


V 



.^^ 










%%^ 





N 



r- -^A v^' oV. 



^^ -%. \ 




1 '%-'^' 














o 






O 



.0^ 




^ w\^ 



1^ ^ ^ ^ , 



vO' ^»- 



%%. 










i'^^T -v \* 







"<t^^^ 






















,H -'*w 



-^^^^^ .^' 



--^^ .^^^ 









'oo' 



.^^ 



N ' 



.%i^ •¥^-S' 






^ 



.^^. 



:' . -^^ 



^f' 
>^^^ 



^^ "^t. 






V V 



-ik^ .\ 



THE 

TRAGEDIES 

OF 

SOPHOCLES, 

TRANSLATED FROM THE GREEK: 

"• WITH 

NOTES 

HISTORICAL, MORAL, AND CRITICAL; 

Wherein several Mistakes of EDITORS and the old SCHOLIASTS are corrected : 

TO WHICH IS PREFIXED, 

A PREFACE; 

CONTAINING 

A DEFENCE OF TRAGIC POETRY, AN HISTORICAL ACCOTJNT OF ITS RISE AND 

PROGRESS, AND A COMPARISON OF THE ANCIENT TRAGEDIANS 

WITH EACH OTHER. 



BY GEORGE ADAMS, A.B. :^^M76« 

Late of St. John's College, Cambridge. 



Take you the Greek examples for your light 
In hand, and turn them over day and night. 

Ben Jonson's Hor. 



A NEW EDITION. 



LONDON : 

PRINTED FOR T. AND J. ALLMAN, 

PRINCE'S STREET, HANOVER-SQUARE j 

BALDWIN, CRADOCK, AND JOY, PATERNOSTER- ROW ; 

MUNDAY AND SLATTER, OXFORD; AND 

R. NEWBY, CAMBRIDGE. 



1818. 



v- 






:> i 



PREFACE. 



AFTER the universal applause which the learned 
world have given to the Tragedies of Sophocles^ 
it would be needless to say any thing to recom- 
mend a translation of them, were all people con- 
versant with them: yet since far the greater part 
of the world are ignorant and unlearned, and 
who, for that very reason, do not only decry dra- 
matic, but all kinds of poetry in general, as to 
them it is necessary to speak in its defence. For, to 
what purpose is it to shew them the excellency of 
an author, which consists in an art which they in 
general condemn, as a means of corrupting men's 
morals, and eradicating out of their minds the 
principles of virtue ! But I hope to make it appear 
in the sequel of this discourse, that this accusa- 
tion is not only unjust, but that tragedy, which is 
the object of their uttier aversion, is not only an 

a 2 



IV PREFACE. 

innoeent diversion but even useful, for the improve- 
ment of men's manners and direction of their lives, 
by inspiring them with the love of virtue and hatred 
of vice, by shewing, in their proper colours, the 
beauty of the one and the deformity of the other ; 
and, as men are endowed with reasonable souls, 
capable of choosing good, and refusing evil, by 
directing them to the proper objects of their choice 
and love, as well as of their hatred and aversion. 

But here it must be understood, that I only by 
tragedy mean those of Sophocles and Euripides, 
and such as are built upon their plan, not such stuft 
as ignorant poetasters have imposed upon the world 
for tragedy since their times : who, studying more 
how to fill their pockets than improve their hearers, 
chose to compose such pieces as would gratify 
men's exti^vagant humours, as better serving their 
avaricious purposes. 

This avarice is a fault of which not Dorsennus 
only was guilty, of whom Horace gives this cha- 
racter, Epist. lib. 2. 

Gestit enim nummum in Loculos demittere ; post hoc 
Securus, cadat, an recto stel fahula talo. 



PREFACE. V 

*' If the praetor paid him well for his pains in 
" composing his pieces, he was careless what re- 
'' putation they had afterwards in the world." I 
am afraid the celebrated Shakspeare cannot be en- 
tirely acquitted from having a share in this charge, 
which, perhaps, was the occasion of so many gross 
irregularities in that poet, which nothing but his 
other excellencies can excuse. 

This avarice of the poets brought a scandal upon 
the art in general, and gave ground to many ob- 
jections against it, which, abstracted from its abuse, 
is one of the noblest arts that ever was invented. 

For, not to mention the wonderful effects which 
have been produced on the minds of men who were 
present at the acting of good tragedies, how tyrants 
have forgotten their cruelty, the ambitious been taught 
to moderate their desires, the slothful to earn glory 
in the service of their country, (which, as it is the 
design, so it hath been the effect of them) ; what is 
tragedy but an imitation of the actions of men, and 
which, by exciting in us terror and compassion for 
their misfortunes, teacheth us to moderate those 
passions, and avoid those faults whose prevalence 



VI PREFACE. 

may be like to carry us into the same, or misfor- 
tunes like those which we see them suffer? Foi 
instance, who that reads the tragedy of Oedipus, 
but is inclined to pity that miserable prince, and 
will not take care to avoid that rashness and 
curiosity which drove him into all his misfortunes ? 
Who that reads the tragedy of Ajax and his sad 
fate N^ill not pity him, and resolve against being 
overcome by his anger and rage, the miserable 
causes of it ? Again, the tragedy of Antigone is 
a good lesson for arbitrary princes to take care how 
their laws interfere with those of God and nature, 
and how they put their sanctions in execution 
against the transgressors of them. 

Nor are the rest of the tragedies of Sophocles 
without their morals, to teach men to reduce their 
passions to the subjection of their reason, and to 
avoid those faults, which are the occasions of mis- 
forfun6& to the principal characters; and, lastly, 
(that \^ichis,^^^ design of perfect tragedies,) they 
set before oi^^fes the misfortunes which men fall 
into by their involuntary offences, and so prepare 
us to bear our own misfortunes with patience, when 
we consider how light they are in comparison of 



PREFACE. VU 

theirs whom we see represented upon the theatre. 
When we see represented the miseries of Oedipus 
and Philoctetes, we see that neither greatness nor 
innocence are sufficient to secure us from the cala- 
mities incident to man : and when we compare our 
own condition with theirs, and consider how little 
they deserved the fate they suffered, it encourageth 
us with more cheerfulness to combat the storms we 
meet with, in our passage through the raging waves 
of this troublesome life. 

There is a very pertinent reflection to this purpose 
made by the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, cap. vi. 
lib. 9. " Tragedies," says he, '' were first introduced 
*' to put men in mind of those accidents which 
** happen in their lives, to inform them that they 
" must necessarily come, and teach them that those 
" things, which they see with some delight on the 
" stage, should not appear unsupportable in the 
" grand theatre of the world ; for you see plainly 
" that such ought to be the catastrophe of all 
" pieces : and those who cry so #iTch on the thea- 
" tre, Oh Cytheron, do not deliver themselves from 
" their own evils." Though this is said only in 
respect to one effect of tragedy, namely, the re- 



Till PREFACE. 

fining terror and compassion; yet it shewfi how 
high an opinion even a Stoic had for this art. 

The other excellencies of it I shall make out bv 
a comparison of poetry, of which tragedy is tlie 
noblest kind, with the other two sciences which are 
chiefly reckoned to contribute towards the polishing 
of mankind, and instructing them in the way of 
their duty, in order to present and future happiness : 
and those are history and morality, where I shall 
shew how far poetry excels them both, and is more 
conducive to that purpose. Other sciences, as 

, metaphysics, arithmetic, and astronomy, being only 
subservient to the other, cannot presume to enter 

the list in this dispute. 

For example, astronomy consists in observing 
the order, harmony, and contrivance, of the celes- 
tial bodies, their steady revolutions, and the various 
seasons of the year thereby produced ; and though 
it helps to instruct men, it doth it not directly by 
its own power, but mediately, ^. e. by giving us 
high and noble sentiments of God, shewing that 
he is great and powerful in all his works, that he 
is a God of order and harmony, and, by conse- 



PREFACE. IX^ 

quence, that he requires it in man, the noblest part 
of the creation, which consists in keeping his 
passions under the subjection of reason, (for all 
vice is nothing else but the effects of the irregularity 
of men's passions,) and shewing that, as he is power- 
ful and just, he will certainly punish such disorders 
and irregularities in rational creatures. For the 
same reason metaphysics, which consist in con- 
templation of the nature of spirits, are subser- 
vienf to the same ends, (as may be said of all 
other sciences that can be thought of, except di- 
vinity,) i. e. the instruction of men, and making 
them what they should be ; which are the direct 
and immediate ends of history, morality, and 
poetry. For divinity, that must always be ex- 
cepted, whose present design is to establish the 
tmth of revealed doctrines of the utmost impor- 
tance, with respect not only to this life, but even 
to an eternal one hereafter. What I am therefore 
to prove is, that poetry is more edifying and in- 
structive to man, in order to a due regulation of 
their lives, than either history or morality. First 
then as to history: what is it but a faithful nar- 
ration of the actions of men, and other acci- 
dents, with their circumstances? But it is defec- 



PREFACE. 



tive in this particular; for although it may give 
us instances of persons who have suffered by their 
vices, or any other causes w^ith w^hich w^e are unac- 
quainted ; yet, in giving us those instances, it still 
leaves us ignorant for want of precepts, to teach us 
' how to behave ourselves, should any of those cases 
happen to be ours : for, although we might guess at 
the cause of a person's sufferings, as a proud man, 
a tyrannical king, &c. we cannot affirm that his 
pride or his tyranny were the causes of those 
sufferings, nor can we affirm that he would not have 
suffered such things had he been otiierwise. Some 
folly or indiscretion, or other thing which we are 
ignorant of, might have caused his misfortunes, 
which, had he avoided, he might still have pros- 
pered veiy well in his other vices : so different are 
the causes of all things which happen, and so ob- 
scure the paths to trace them out. 

If, indeed, an historian, in the description of a 
character, tells us what is to be done and what 
avoided, he then enters upon the province of the 
moralist or poet. But the events of history, as 
such, are far from instructing men, or affording 
them any general maxims for directing their lives. 



PREFACE. XI 

For instance, what moral is to be drawn from a 
cursed usurper dying in his bed, and a just king 
murdered by his subjects ? A just Cicero and true 
patriot of his country suffering a cruel death from 
an ambitious Anthony? The just Cato besieged 
and forced to lay violent hands on himself, while 
rebel Caesar's name lives with honour ? So that it is 
impossible to draw any general maxims from par- 
ticular events, and those bare matters of fact which 
historians are obliged to relate. Morality labours 
under the same defect, for although a moralist 
may define prudence, justice, temperance, and 
other virtues, with their opposite vices, and by 
many convincing arguments, drawn from the nature 
of things, shew us how much one is preferable to 
the other, yet he wants example to enforce those 
precepts, to shew how persons by their virtue have 
been happy in their lives, and glorious after death ; 
and again to shew into what calamities particular 
persons have fallen by the prevalence of those vices 
they are declaiming against. But a judicious poet 
takes in both precept and example, for, as he is 
purely the maker of his own creature, he forms 
him as he pleases, and represents to us such per- 
sons as drew on themselves their own misfortunes 



XU PREFACE. 

by their vices and follies, (as Sophocles doth in the 
tragedies of Ajax, Oedipus, Trachiniae, &c.) or 
who rendered themselves the objects of our admira- 
tion and praise, as Ulysses and Theseus. We see 
nothing in any of those characters, but what is to 
be done, or what avoided ; for the poet shews us 
what vices or follies were the next and immediate 
cause of the sufferings of the one, and what virtues 
gained the other praise. Oedipus is represented as 
a prince, who, though he had many excellent 
virtues, as justice, courage, and tenderness for the 
welfare of his people, yet fell into his misfortunes 
by his prodigious rashness and curiosity : and, by 
his conduct in a particular instance, the poet in- 
structs us to avoid those faults which brought on 
him his misfortunes. 

The same may be said of Ajax, who is repre- 
sented as a person whose wrath and malice ruined 
him ; and of Deianira, who was undone by too 
great credulity, and giving way too much to that 
weak passion of jealousy. On the other hand, the 
character of Ulysses is distinguished by several 
excellent qualities, as his pnidence in composing 
the strife between Agamemnon and Teucrus, his 
placable and forgiving temper towaid Ajax. 



PREFACE. Xm 

The character of Theseus, in Oedipus Coloneus, 
is likewise the drauglit of a righteous king, neither 
terrified by threats nor allured by flatteries from 
executing justice among his people, when the com- 
plaints of the miserable call for his assistance. In 
any of these cases we cannot possibly fail of know- 
ing how to behave ourselves when we read those 
poems, should we fall into the same or the like cir- 
cumstances with the persons there represented. For 
they are so represented that their words and actions 
speak the men, and thereby of necessity render 
them the objects of our love or hatred ;. and what 
we love or hate in another will have some effect 
upon our own conduct : whereas the moralist only 
discourses of virtue and vice in a methodical way, de- 
fines them according to their subjects, causes, and 
effects; and enlarges upon each division, but is 
destitute of example, to shew where those virtues 
or vices are displayed. And the historian confines 
himself to strict matters of fact, but shews us not 
how they ought to influence our conduct. A poet, I 
according to his name and the import of his office, 
being derived from the Gtreek word noi»T*j?, a creator 
or maker, is only to shew men what they should or 
should not be, not what they are or are not, as the 



XIY PREFi^CE. 

historian doth, and therefore he cannot fail of 
laying down proper instructions for the conduct of 
hfe, and shewing in others what they ought to do 
themselves. And thus he answers those ends 
which both historians and moralists propose, yet 
labours under none of those defects which they do ; 
for, as hath been shewn, he gives us the particular 
instances wherein they have been rash or imprudent, 
cruel and outrageous ; or, on the contrary, wise, 
just, and pious, and the motives upon which they 
proceeded, and how they behaved themselves in 
such circumstances, and the consequences thereof, 
which must needs afford matter of great use and 
application to the hearers. This is no new obser- 
vation, but what Horace hath long ago made, 
who tells us, that Homer instructed men what 
to do, and what to avoid, better than either Chry- 
sippus or Crantor. Ep. ii. lib. 1. 

Qui, quid sit pulchrum, quid turpe, quid utile, quid nam, 
Plenius et melius Chrysippo et Crantore dicit. 

Now of all kinds of poetry tragedy is confessed- 
ly the noblest, and therefore better answers this 
end. Our modern tragedies are, indeed, far less 
instructive than those of the ancients in this way, 



PREFACE. XV 

for want of the chorus, which the other had, whose 
office it was to make moral apphcations in their 
songs, from what was said by the actors in the 
foregoing episode, in which they always conformed 
themselves to the rules of that religious worship, 
which was in vogue among them. I shall give the 
reader the following instance, as a proof of this 
truth, out of Oedipus Tyrannus. 

Jocasta, thinking that the oracle, which foretold 
the fate of Laius was false, viz. that he should be 
murdered by his son Oedipus, whom she believed to 
be dead, little thinking that that servant to whom 
she delivered him did not execute his orders, out of 
pity to the child, speaks in a contemptuous manner 
of all oracles in general, and says, that there is as 
little reason that we should believe that part of the 
oracle which declared he should commit incest with 
his mother, or any other oracle whatsoever, as that 
which she had already proved false. 

This, from the mouth of a queen, might be of very 
pernicious consequence to the hearers, by tending 
to beget in their minds a contempt of all religious 
worship. The chorus, therefore, to prevej;it the 



XVI PREFACE. 

natural effects of so bad an example, and preserve 
in the minds of the audience a due reverence for 
religion, declares there is a terrible god that will 
punish all impiety, either in our words or actions, 
and prays that he would not revenge the impiety, 
of Jocasta on that city. Act iii. scene 5, " May 
" the gods grant me to enjoy a happy state," &c. 

The way, therefore, to make our theatres as in- 
structive as the Athenian was, is to restore the 
chorus, and for ever to banish from the stage such 
stuff with which it is daily pestered. I shall not 
however take upon me to dictate so far, as to say 
what should or should not be done here in this 
kind among us, who live under so wise a govern- 
ment ; but leave it to those of better judgment and 
greater power, whether so considerable an innova- 
tion be convenient or not; but shall proceed to 
answer two grand objections which are brought 
against the use of tragedy : the first is, that it is 
only suited to a state of heathenism; the other, 
that it is very much abused ; and the answer which 
I shall make to these shall be not only sufficient to 
confute these objections, but likewise farther recom- 
mend this kind of poetry. The former in its full 



PREFACE. XVll 

force and vigour is thus. Although it should be 
granted, that, in a state of heathenism, when man- 
kind had but imperfect notions of a future state, 
and the wisest of the philosophers doubted whether 
there was any such thing at all or not, such helps 
as tragedy might be very useful to help the phi- 
losophers by fables and similitudes, and make out 
what they could not in the reformation of men. 
Yet to us, who live under the dispensation of the 
Gospel, a most perfect rule of faith and obedience 
delivered by our great prophet Jesus Christ, and 
are assured by the most convincing arguments of 
the certainty of a future state of rewards and 
punishments, what occasion can there be for any such 
helps as tragedy ; since the Holy Scriptures afford 
all the arguments that can be desired to persuade us 
to embrace religion and virtue, and abhor vice ? 

It is true, were it so that the precepts of the 
Gospel had their intended effect, and we saw that 
all men lived according to them; that is, were 
every man really what he should be, then indeed 
all theatrical recreations were useless. Yet, since 
experience informs us that the case is quite other- 
^vise, and we' often see men fall into the greatest 

b 



XVlll PREFACE. 

inconveniences, through one predominant passion 
or other, why should we slight such helps as can 
be any way conducive to so good an end, as the 
subduing those passions to the government of rea- 
son ? We have the examples not only of the pro- 
phets, but of our Saviour himself, to authorise a 
parabolical way of instruction, which they often 
had recourse to, rather than precept. Nathan in 
particular brought David to repentance by a very 
remarkable parable. See 2 Sam. xii. 

We have likewise many parables of our blessed 
Saviour in the Scripture ; yea, we read in one place 
that he so far preferred it to precept, that " without 
'* a parable spake he not unto them," i, e. his dis- 
ciples. Now, every tragedy hath its fable or para- 
ble, which is the same, and every parable its moral 
instruction, for that is the end of all fables, as I 
have already instanced in the tragedies of Oedipus, 
Ajax, Antigone, &c. For they are not told as truths, 
nor doth the poet design to impose his fictions on 
the world as such ; yet, though they are not in them- 
selves true, the appUcation and moral instruction 
which they design is most undoubtedly so : if an- 
ger destroyed Thyestes, Ajax, and others, rashness 



PREFACE. XIX 

and curiosity Oedipus, the sad effects of jealousy 
Deianira, and severity Creon, we may reasonably 
conclude, in the ordinary course of things, that 
where the same passions prevail, they will always 
have the same effects. And although there had 
been really no such persons in the world as are here 
mentioned, yet the application is general to all; 
and it is most probable that persons of such man- 
ners should do such actions, and that such actions 
should produce such consequences. Now, if men, 
who are slaves to their passions and abandoned 
in their morals, can be reclaimed, what matters 
it whether it be done by a poet or divine? If 
a cruel persecuting tyi'ant is reformed, and be- 
comes a pious prince, careful for the welfare of his 
people, what matters it whether it be done by hear- 
ing a tragedy of the terrible sufferings of a people 
under a tyrannous government; or, by hearing a 
sermon, setting forth how God is merciful to all his 
creatures in general, and that he requires the same 
temper in men toward their fellow creatures, and the 
pimishment which waits the opposite vice in a future 
state, &c. As to the latter, I am aware of an ob- 
jection, that there is a duty in the very act of hear- 
ing sermons, which is not in the other : I grant it ; 

b 2 



XX PREFACE. 

yet that hearing is in order to a better end, viz. to 
be instructed in the will of God and the wiay of our 
duty, Rom. x. v. 14, &c. But, if hearing doth not 
answer that end, it will be so far from standing us 
in any stead in the day of account, that it will 
rather be an aggravation of the condemnation of 
such stony hearts, in which the good seed of the 
word was sown in vain : and if hearing a tragedy 
h^th often wrought the minds of men to that Chris- 
tian temper, which preaching could not, I see not 
why the use of so good a help is not both lawful 
and commendable. 

The usefulness of this diversion will farther ap- 
pear, if we look back and trace it from its original, 
and consider the design for which it was first inven- 
ted, viz. to afford pleasure and profit to its hearers. 
Wh^a the philosophers found that it was impossible 
for them to form men, such as they would have 
them to be, by the precepts of philosophy, they 
were forced to have recourse to tragedy ; which was 
therefore invented, not as the best employment that 
men could take up, but as a means to correct the 
excess in which they plunged themselves at their 
feasts ; and to render those amusements profitable. 



PREFACE. XX;i 

which custom and their infirmities had made neces- 
sary, and their corruption very dangerous. So that \ 
tragedy was designed both to satisfy the natural 
curiosity of men, and that incHnation which all have 
to gratify themselves with some kind of recreation, 
and at the same time to instruct them ; and that 
very reason, that it doth so, is sufficient to justify 
the use of it. Moderate recreations are by no means 
unlawful or contrary to the word of God, but rather 
authorised by it. God did not give men inclina- 
tions, but such only, the gratifying of which are 
lawful, provided they regulate themselves by the 
measures of prudence and sobriety; and it were 
heartily to be wished that those libertines, who com- 
plain of the yoke of religion, would, instead of 
their customary criminal indulgence of their pas- 
sions, betake themselves to this kind of diversion. 

The other objection against tragic poetry is, that 
it is very much abused. This must certainly be 
granted ; yet this objection, however true, cannot 
lie against what I here contend for ; since, as I said 
before, 1 would be here understood to mean only 
such tragedies as are built upon the plan of the 
ancients, Sophocles and Euripides, and according 



XXii PREFACE. 

to those rules laid down by Aristotle and Horace ; 
not such abominable stuff as our English theatres 
have been crowded with since their times, where 
the spectators have been entertained with tedious 
scenes of courtship, abusive language to the clergy, 
ridiculous contradictions, abominable fustian ; yea, we 
have instances of their prophane flights of thought, 
little better than blasphemy . These were faults which 
Dryden and Lee fell into, who have been followed 
herein by several other poets since their time, for 
which they are justly, though severely, scourged by 
the ingenious Mr. Collier. What an abominable 
character doth Dryden give us of Nourmahal, in 
that scene where she discovers her unnatural love 
for Aurengzebe ? How doth she talk like a woman 
lost to all shame and modesty ? The ancients never 
ran into errors of this nature ; for though Phaedra, 
in Euripides, is in love with Hippolytus, yet her^ 
honour, throughout the whole play, so far prevails 
over her love, that it ties her tongue from the least 
immodest expression. 

Shakspeare, however faulty in other things, yet , 
had none of this ; we do not find his plays stuffed 
with any such tender sentiments between the diffe- 



PREFACE. XXlll 

rent sex before marriage, which must be shocking 
and mieasy to the fair sex, and offensive to that 
modesty which is no less an ornament to them than 
their beauty. Juhet and Desdemona are both 
married, before they make any acknowledgements 
of their love. We have likewise passages in several 
of their pieces, where they abuse the clergy with 
m.ost insolent language, of which the behaviour of 
Chamont to the Chaplain, in that celebrated play 
called the Orphan, is one instance; and that of 
Oedipus, in Dryden's play of that title, toward 
Tiresias, is another : where the poets have, witli 
impudent language, abused, not only those persons, 
namely, the Chaplain and Tiresias in particular, but 
even railed against the sacred function in general. 
If it be not raking from too foul a channel, I shall 
cite the passages from the authors. Oedipus, act iii. 

Oed, Who were my parents ? 

Tir, Thou shall know too soon. 

OeU, Why seek I truth from thee 1 
The smiles of courtiers, and the harlot's tears, 
The tradesmen's oaths and mourning of an heir. 
Are truths to what priests tell. ' 
O, why hast priesthood privilege to lie. 
And yet to be believed 1 ,_^, 



XXIV PREFACE. 

And, in the Oi-phan, act iii. Chamont says to the 
Chaplain : 

Nay, but th' art an hypocrite ; is there not one 
Of all thy tribe that's honest in your schools ] 

And afterwards : 

If thou wouldst have me not contemn thy office 
^ And character, think all thy brethren knaves. 
Thy trade a cheat, anct thou its worst professor. 

Afterwards, Chamont, seeing the meekness of the 
Chaplain, in bearing this language without shewing 
any great signs of resentment, returns to his former 
style, and reproaches him with the most vile, the 
most scurrilous language that impudence and rage 
could dictate. 

Curse on that formal steady villain's face. 
Just so do all bawds look ; nay, bawds, they say. 
Can pray upon occasion, talk of heaven, 
Turn up their goggling eyeballs, rail at vice. 
Dissemble, lie, and preach like any priest. 
Art thou a bawd ? 

But it were needless to produce a few passages of 
this kind, and those only to be found in the writings 
of authors long since dead, were not their example 
too ^sely followed by the author of a play too 



PREFACE. XXV 

well known, and frequented too, to be jiamed here ; 
to the shame of the cormpted taste of our nation, 
and disrelish of the admirable beauties of the 
ancients. 

The lawyer bekuaves the divine, &c. 

And now let any man judge, whether it be fit 
that men in holy orders, to whom are committed 
the oracles of God, whose particular business it is 
to promote the honour of God, and set forward the 
salvation of all men, should be treated with such 
language. And I believe all men will allow, that 
there is no more effectual way to serve the causes of 
the atheist and infidel, and to bring religion into 
contempt, than to infuse into men's minds a con- 
tempt of its teachers. 

These and such like abuses brought this scandal 
upon all dramatic writings in general, that they were 
only invented by the poets to get money, and enrich 
themselves by the follies and vices of mankind. 
But what can be more unjust than to banish the 
true coins out of the world, because of counterfeits ? 
For such are certainly that kind of tragedy I have 
now mentioned, with respect to what is truly and 
properly so called. 



XXVI PREFACE. 

Is it an argument that we should never follow 
the directions of a skilful physician, because some 
ignorant pretenders have killed their patients by 
medicines improper for their disease ? This was not 
because they were physicians ; but because they 
were nothing less. And yet just so much reason 
have we to reject the use of right tragedy, because 
it hath been abused and perverted to base ends. 
For nothing can be more opposite to right tragedy 
than what ignorant poetasters have imposed on the 
world as such ; nor can any thing be more unjust 
than to condemn it, fqr no other reason but because 
of that abuse ; and those who do condemn the most 
noble diversion in the world, a diversion which 
awakens the genius of men, searches to the inmost 
recesses of the soul, finds out those virtues which 
lie hid in the smooth seasons and calms of life, and 
sets them upon actions truly noble and praisewor- 
thy. It touches the most obdurate soul ; and makes 
it melt to behold the sufferings of our fellow crea- 
tures. I could give many proofs of this truth, but 
shall at present only trouble the reader with the 
following. 

Alexander, a cruel tyrant of Pharae, in Thessaly, 
being at the theatre when the Hecuba of f^ripides 



PREFACE. XXVU 

was acted, was so sensibly moved, that he went 
out before the first act was ended, saying, he was 
ashamed to be seen to weep at the ^misfortunes of 
Hecuba and Polyxena, when he daily imbrued his 
hands in the blood of his citizens. He was afraid 
that if he stayed longer his heart would be molli- 
fied, and forced to quit that spirit of tyranny, 
which was destructive to so many of his citizens : 
and the actor escaped with his life only through 
those small remains of pity he had raised in his 
breast, who had been so long a stranger to it. 
Collier himself, who was so violent a scourge of 
dramatic poetry, yet allows it to be the most use- 
ful thing the wit of man can invent, for the promo- 
ting of virtue and the discouragement of vice : and 
certainly if ever any hath been written without respect 
to this end, either the avarice, ignorance, or laziness 
of the^poets have been the occasion of it, and not 
any defect in the art itself. 

But it is time that I speak in particular of the 
tragedies of the ancients, since they are the true 
models according to which every good tragedian 
ought to wiite, as being not only according to Aris- 
totle's rules, but even those upon which he groimded 



XXVm PREFACE. 

his rules ; that is, in the state tragic poetry was left 
by Thespis. In prosecution of which design, I shall 
give my reader a short account of its rise and pro- 
gress, and what improvements it gradually received 
until it arrived at that perfection to which it was 
brought by Sophocles ; and from thence shew what 
vicissitudes it underwent, sometimes being eclipsed, 
and again recovering its ancient lustre, until the 
later ages. 

Then I shall mark out the particular excellencies 
for which the three great heroes of tragic poetry, 
namely ^schylus, Euripides, and Sophocles, are most 
eminent ; and the faults for which they are most de- 
fective : and upon the whole shew, that the preference 
to the other two is due to Sophocles. 

I shall begin with the derivation of the word tra- 
gedy. Tragedy is a word compounded of two 
Greek words r^dlLog and u^ri, a goat and a song, and 
it was sung at a feast which was kept in honour of 
Bacchus, he being the first planter of vines in 
Attica. At this feast a goat was sacrificed, and 
the reward given to that person who sang best was 
a goat. Whence Horace, 



PREFACE. , XXIX 

' Carmine qui tragico vilem certavit oh hircum. 
Who sung a tragic song for a vile goat. 

Then to these songs there were other additions 
made, which improved them to dialogues, between 
two or more: hence proceeded dramatic poetry, 
both comic and tragic ; so that there were some 
tragedians of smaller account before Thespis ; and 
Mr. Boileau was mistaken in ascribing the first in- 
vention of this art to that tragedian. What im- 
provements he and ^schylus afterwards made, 
Horace tells us in these following lines : 

Ignotum tragicce genus invenisse camoence 
Dicitur, et plaustris vexisse potmata Thespis, 
Quee canerent agerentque peruncti fcecihus ora. 
Post hunc personcB pallceque repertor honestfB 
Mschylus, et modicis instravit pulpita tignis, 
Et docuit magnumque loqui, nitique cothurno. 

Thespis is said to be the first found out 

The tragedy, and carried it about. 

Till then unknown, in carts, wherein did ride 

Those that did sing, and act : their faces dy'd 

With lees of wine. Next iEschylus more late 

Brought in the visor and the robe of state, 

Built a small timber'd stage, and taught them talk 

Lofty and great; and in the buskin walk. 

Ben Jonson's Har. 



XXX PREFACE. 

So that at first there was only a Chorus, who acted 
alone ; afterwards, Thespis, in order to ^ve some 
rest to the Chorus, added another person; and 
iEschylus a second ; one of which was to be the 
chief character, and the other a dependant or re- 
tinue to him : and, in order to give the more room 
to the dialogue between the two actors, retrenched 
the length of the songs of the Chorus. Lastly, So- 
phocles, having more narrowly examined the nature 
of tragedy, and finding that iEschylus's two actors 
did not set off the scene well, and could not give 
an opportunity of such a variety of plots and con- 
trivances as ought to be there, reduced the songs of 
the Chorus to their just bounds, which ^schylus 
had shortened too much, and added a third, and 
there all the Greek tragedians remained. And 
though JEschylus, both in his Choephori and Eu- 
menides, has three actors talking together, yet it was 
because he had made those plays twelve years after 
he had seen some of Sophocles's pieces, from which 
he took his third actor : and, therefore, Horace lays 
down this rule : — 

Nee quarta loqui persona lahoret. 

Nor strive to make a fourth person speak. 

And, indeed, if we rightly consider the nature of 



PREFACE. XXXI 

dialogue, we shall find that there can happen few 
cases wherein it shall be necessary for above three 
persons together to speak, although four persons 
and more, to give beauty and majesty to a scene, 
may be admitted. 

Thus I have given my readers a short account of 
the rise and progress of tragedy, until the time of 
Sophocles, when it was brought to that {perfection, 
that Aristotle would not resolve this question, whe- 
ther any thing more could be added to it ? After 
Sophocles's time, as princes smiled upon or slighted 
this and other arts and sciences, so this art under- 
went many changes, from better to worse, and the 
contrary. Under the reigns of Alexander, the son 
of Amyntas, Perdiccas, and Archelaus, it flourished 
and was in great reputation ; but in the following 
reigns it languished. Then again, under the reigns 
of Philip and Alexander, those glorious princes so 
dispensed their favours to the poets, that they again 
brought it to its flourishing state. After the death of 
Alexander it began again to fade, and never recovered 
its strength till the reign of Augustus, a prince, who, 
how much he was renowned for his great encourage- 
ment of this as well as all other kinds of poetry, it 
is very well known, and the poets rewarded him for 



XXXU PREFACE. 

his favours by immortal monuments of hi^ worth ; 
but Horace, in particular, who sang his praise in 
the most beautiful odes that the most excellent spirit 
of poetry could possibly dictate. After the death of 
Augustus, for more than sixteen hundred years, it 
grew feeble till the last age, when it was recovered 
out of its almost lost state by M. Corneille and 
Racine, both Frenchmen. 

But to come to the writers of our own nation, the 
divine Shakspeare was the first who began this art 
among us, and indeed who ended it too, for he has 
gained so much praise in it that he hath scarce left 
any for those who come after him. And he is so 
much the more to be admired, because he performed 
what he did without the help of learning ; nor, 
indeed, did he need it ; he could look within him- 
self, and there find all the images of nature perfect- 
ly painted. And Ben Jonson and Fletcher, who 
were his contemporaries, though their plots were 
generally more regular, yet the age in which they 
lived never esteemed them equal with him. As for 
Mr. Dryden, dramatic poetry was not his talent, 
though in orle of his pieces, viz. The World Well 
Lost, he so well joins the regularity of Ben Jonson 
with the wit of Shakspeare, that I know not whether 



PREFACE. XXXni 

it be not the best of all his writings of that kind. 
Nor must we forget the ingenious Mr. Addison, 
whose Cato, if we consider the charms of its phrase, 
the soundness of its moral instructions, the exact- 
ness of its characters, if it doth not exceed, yet 
certainly it is equal to any thing that antiquity can 
produce. Where we may observe, by the way, how 
good and necessary the favour and encouragement 
of princes is for the improvement and perfection 
of arts ; and how all princes who ever encouraged 
them, thought not this art, in particular, unworthy 
of their distinguishing smiles. And if it is possible 
for it to arise yet to a higher perfection, nothing of 
that nature is not to be hoped for under the auspi- 
cious smiles of so gTacious a prince as now sways the 
sceptre of these realms ; who, among the many ex- 
cellent virtues by which he has distinguished himself 
from his royal ancestors, this is none of the least, 
namely, his generous love of learning, discovered 
by his bounteous encouragement of the learned, 
and the many books which his majesty is pleased to 
patronize, whose praise, being unequal to so noble 
a theme, I shall leave to more skilful pens, — 

Nee conemur, tenues, grandia. 



XXXl\r PREFACE. 

Having now given the reader a short liistory of 
tragedy from its first infancy to our present times, 
I novv^ return to the tragedy of the ancients, where 
I shall mark out the chief excellencies for which 
they are all most eminent, and the faults for which 
they are most defective ; and, upon the comparison, 
shew that of the three Greek tragedians, the pre- 
ference is due to Sophocles. 

I shall begin with the definition of perfect tragedy, 
and then repeat some of the laws of most import of 
tragic poetry, according to which I shall examine 
them. 

Tragedy then is the imitation of an action, that is 
grave, entire, and hath a just length, of which the 
style is agreeably relishing, but differently in all its 
parts, and w^hich, without the assistance of narration, 
by means of compassion and terror, perfectly re- 
fines in us all sorts of passion, and whatever else is 
like them. 

The imitation of an action is the fable, the man- 
ners are what distinguish the quality of the action, 
and the sentiments are the discourses by which they 



PREFACE. XXXV 

make known every action, and discover their 
thoughts. Tragedy, therefore, consists of four es- 
sential parts, viz. fable, manners, diction, and sen- 
timents. As for decoration and music they are only 
added to make the tragedy more agreeable and 
diverting, and are not at all essential to it. They 
are not properly the business of the poet, but be- 
long to other persons employed in the business of 
the theatre, though JEschylus placed much stress 
in decoration, for he chose every thing that was 
frightful. 

Horror and death were in his paintings seen. 

First, as to the fable, the composition of causes 
and incidents which concur to the making up an 
action is the fable, in which is to be observed unity 
of these three things, viz. time, place, and action : 
for, as tragedy is the imitation of one action, so the 
fable or imitation ought not to exceed the thing 
imitated. The same may be said of the unity of 
time and place. These last Sophocles observes ad- 
mirably well, the longest of all the actions he 
imitates takes not up above foiir hours. That in the 
Trachiniae seems to be the longest in any of his 
pieces, for the time which Hyllus is supposed to 

c 2 



XXXVl PREFACE. 

take in going from Trachinium to mount Oeta, 
which was near it, seems to be something considera- 
ble, and a little more than could well be done in the 
time of representation ; yet this is what may very 
well be allowed of, so little time may well be cast 
into the intervals of action and not be discerned by 
spectators, who will not pry so narrowly as to dis- 
cern any absurdity in it. This is far short of that 
liberty which some of the moderns have taken in 
this kind, for they will represent your actions which 
, cannot possibly be done in less than three or four 
days. How absurd is it to suppose an army to 
march during the time of action to a certain place 
of forty or fifty miles distance, where they revolt 
from their leaders, and the latter are brought in 
prisoners to the place of action ? And yet this is 
an oversight which a great poet of this age has been 
guilty of. Every imitation is more perfect as it is 
more like the thing imitated. Tragedy is the imita- 
tion or representation of an action, therefore it 
necessarily follows that the nearer the time of action 
comes to the representation of that action, the more 
perfect the tragedy will be. So far were the ancients 
persuaded of the necessity of observing this rule, 
that Euripides in his Suppliants, and iEschylus in 



PREFACE. XXXVll 

his Agamemnon, had rather incur some absurdity 
than transgress it. 

Unity of place our author, likewise, observes 
every vs^here, a rule which Shakspeare every where 
and other moderns often transgress. But, as to 
that of action, particularly in his Tragedy of Ajax, 
he is not so exact ; great part of which play consists 
of a dispute between Teucrus and the Grecian chiefs, 
whether the body of Ajax shall be buried or not, 
which is a transgression of this rule. 

As to the maimers, a good poet ought to take 
Qare they be such as render the action credible and 
probable, and such as will let us see what they have 
actually determined to do in any important and 
difficult case, before they do it. It is true, no ac- 
tijon can be without manners, but they are such, for 
the most part, as necessarily or probably determine 
the persons to such particular actions : for insjtance^ 
when Agamemnon sent ambassadors to Achilles, 
in Homer, we can judge what will be the conse- 
quence of this embassy, by what the poet hath told 
us of that hero. It is the same with Sophocles, all 
which the poet says of the character of Oedipus 



XXXVlll PREFACE. 

prepares us for his extravagant passions, and teach- 
es us to judge what excess his Wind obstinacy will 
make him commit. 

On the other hand, Aristotle hath shewn us where 
Euripides hath offended in the goodness and equality 
of manner^ : for instance, the manners of Menelaus 
in his Orestes are bad ; Menelaus arrived at Argos 
just as they were going to condemn Orestes to death, 
and Orestes hopes that the arrival of his uncle 
would secure him from danger. The manners 
which Euripides then gives him would make us 
think, that he would not forsake his nephew ; for he 
says that his calamity and distress obliged him to 
take the more care of him ; and when Tyndarus 
pressed to have the prince executed, that he might 
revenge the death of his daughter, Clytemnestra, 
he tells him that his long stay among the barbarians 
had made him one too. Menelaus answers, that he 
acted in that according to the Grecian education, 
who always had great considerations for their rela- 
tions, and thought themselves obliged to do them 
all possible service : nay, he was so transported as 
to tell Tyndarus, that anger and old age had made 
him a fool. Thus are the manners of Menelaus 



PREFACE. XXXIX 

well denoted, all that he says is a moral speech ; 
and seems to intimate that he will take a resolution 
g^greeable to them : but this is contradicted the next 
moment, for Menelaus, being terrified at Tyndarus's 
threats, becomes at once very fearful ; and, coward- 
like, abandons his nephew. The manners of Iphi- 
genia, at Aulis, are likewise very bad ; for, (saith 
Aristotle,) the suppliant Iphigenia, whom we see at 
the beginning, is not that courageous Iphigenia 
whom we see at the end. At first she prays in a 
most slavish manner to her father not to deliver her 
up to death, and makes a thousand pitiful com- 
plaints ; and presently after, who is more coura- 
geous ? Who more in love with glory ? Yea, she 
begs of her mother that she would let her die for the 
safety of the Greeks. 

How far are these from the nianners Sophocles 
gives Antigone ? For she dies with the same reso- 
lution and magnanimity with which she at first 
transgressed that impious decree of Creon, and she 
appears throughout the whole piece the same An- 
tigone. His sentinients which denote those manners 
are here, and every where else in his pieces, agree- 
able to truth or similitude. As to diction, it is of 



Xl PREFACE. 

SO. small importance, that a tragedy is really perfect 
and entire without it ; and, however flat it be, yet it 
doth not make the other less perfect. In that our 
author imitates Homer, from whom he borrows 
many expressions as well as sentiments ; but this I 
shall have occasion to speak of hereafter. 

His fables are most of them of the implex kind, 
i. e, such as are unravelled, either by a change of 
fortune alone, as the Antigone ; or remembrance 
alone, as the Electra ; or, lastly, both by a remem- 
brance and change of fortune, as the Oedipus Ty- 
rannus and Trachiniae ; but the Ajax, Oedipus 
Coloneus, and Philoctetes, are of the simple kind, 
i, e. such whose unravelling is only a single passage 
of agitation and trouble ; and the most perfect 
tragedy of either kind is that which hath only a 
single catastrophe, ^. e, which exposeth the sufferings 
of one single person, who, being neither good nor 
bad in the superlative degree, doth not draw on him 
his sufferings by his crimes, as in the Oedipus. 

Euripides, in most of his pieces, has observed this 
rule, for which reason he was called the most tragi- 
cal of all the poets, though otherwise he was not so 
correct as Sophocles, 



PREFACE. Xli 

His manners (as has been shewn before) are very 
unequal; the songs of his Chorus are sometimes 
foreign to the subject in hand, an error which So- 
phocles never ran into contrary to that rule of 
Horace, — 

Nee quid medios intercinat actus. 

Quod non proposito conducat et hcertat apte. 

For nothing we between the acts should see, 
Rut with the play exactly will agree. 

Now, though the most perfect sort of tragedy be 
that whose catastrophes are single, as in Oedipus, 
which exposes the unhappiness of one man, who is 
less wicked than good; and not double, as the 
Electra, whose catastrophe is fortunate for the good, 
and unhappy for the bad ; yet there have been many 
pieces which have succeeded tolerably well, as the 
Philoctetes of Sophocles, the Suppliants of -^schy- 
lus, Heraclides, Helena, and Ion, of Euripides. 
Yet were they far from that perfection which Ari- 
stotle requires, nor did the success of them last so 
long as of those which were composed according to 
the former rule. Yet every one of the Greek tra- 
gedians, in their different ways, have discovered a 
singular majesty in their art. 



Xlii PRfi*FACB. 

This is what Cicero hath observed in his third 
book De Oratore, Quam infer se ^schylus, Sophor^ 
elesy Euripides, dissimiles sint ; quanquam omnibus 
par pene laus in dissimili scrihendi genere trihuatur. 
How different are ^schylus, Sophocles, and Eu- 
ripides, from one another ; and yet they all deserve 
almost equal praise, in their different ways of 
writing. 

iEschylus succeeded very well in his simple tra- 
gedies, i. e. those which expose to view the un- 
happiness of one particular person, as his Prome- 
theus, and his Seven Captains of Thebes : but was 
not so good at his implex, as his Agamemnon and 
Choephori. On the other hand, Euripides, though 
hjB succeeded very well in his implex pieces, yet his 
chief excellence consisted in his moral, i, e. those 
which expose to view the happiness of some person ; 
which, though they be opposite to the rule above- 
mentioned, which Aristotle hath laid down for the 
composition of perfect tragedy, yet there he mixeth 
the passions so admirably well, that they are prefer- 
able to those whose catastrophes are unfortunate, 
notwithstanding these are more tragical than the 
other. 



PREFACE. xliii 

But Sophocles, in his implex pieces, i. e. his Oedi- 
pus, Electra, &c. excelled them all; for which, as 
well as his other excellencies, we may conclude he 
is the best of all the Greek tragedians. For his ex- 
cellency in general he is commended both by an- 
cients and modems. Virgil, comparing the trage- 
dies of Pollio to those of Sophocles, has these 
words :■ — 

En erit ut liceat totum mihiferre per oi'bem. 
Sola Sophocleo iua carmina digna cothurno. 

Polemon calls him Homerus Tragicus, the tragic 
Homer, as Diogenes, Laertius witnesseth, Lib. iv. 
And if we may believe the same author, he was 
sumamed apis, i. e. a bee, for the sweetness of his 
language. 

He was perfectly acquainted with the writings of 
Homer, to whom he is indebted for the unravelling 
of the Electra, which was borrowed from that of 
the Odyssey, where Penelope laments for Ulysses, 
who was present with her, whom she supposed to be 
absent, and who is soon discovered to her. 

His description of the chariot-course, in the same 



Xliv PREFACE. 

piece, is a perfect imitation of that which Homer 
gives of the chariot-course, wherewith Achilles ho- 
noured the funeral of Patroclus, in the 23d Iliad. 
The character of Pyrrhus, in the Philoctetes, is 
drawn according to the notion the poet had of his 
father, Achilles, as his character is represented in 
Homer ; for he hath given him some of his manners, 
viz. that he scorned to stoop to so mean an action 
as to deceive Philoctetes with a lie, though it were 
for his advantage ; and though at first he conde- 
scended to it, his mind could not be at rest till he 
Ixad made reparation for it. And Homer represents 
Achilles saying,^ — 

Ep^G^o? yx^ (AOi Tiiivoq c/xw? atdao icv'k'na'iv 

"Oq X ^'te^o" y-^v y.tvQv) Iv* (p^Ecr]v, olhT^o §i ^otQu. Iliad. ». 

His character of Thersites is taken from the se- 
cond Iliad, where likewise Ulysses is introduced 
rebuking and beating him for his saucy language to 
Agamemnon. And it were no difficult matter to 
instance where he useth Homer's thoughts and ex- 
pressions ; and his so exact imitation of Homer is 
the reason why he is so inimitable himself. Mr. 
Boileau, in a particular place, where he is about 



PREFACE. Xlv 

giving us the history of tragedy, hath these follow- 
ing lines in his commendation : — 

Then Sophocles, the genius of his age. 
Increased the pomp and beauty of the stage. 
Engaged the Chorus' song in every part. 
And polished rugged verse by rules of art. 
He, in the Greek, did those perfections gain. 
Which the weak Latins never could obtain. 

Mr. Dry den, speaking of the tragedy of Oedipus, 
in particular, says, Sophocles, indeed, is admirable 
every where; and in his prologue to his Oedipus :.r- 

When Athens all the Grecian state did guide. 
And Greece gave laws to all the world beside; 
Then Sophocles with Socrates did sit 
Supreme, in wisdom one, and one in wit. 

These testimonies are sufficient to shew the repu- 
tation Sophocles had before our times, and how he 
ought always to be esteemed by persons of the most 
sound judgment, and refined taste for polite learn- 
ing. And pity it is that of the hundred and twenty 
tragedies that admirable tragedian wrote, the injury 
of time has deprived u^ of all except these seven. 



Xlvi PREFACE. 

This, therefore, may suffice to have been said | 
concerning Sophocles's tragedies, both because I 
here only design to give the reader a general ac- ( 
count of what I thought proper to be known before 
the reading of them, and not to lay down all the 
rules of an art, of which there are so many excel- 
lent treatises extant : as, Aristotle, with Mr. Da- 
cier's notes, Mr. Gildon, Gerard Vossius, &c. and 
because I have, in my notes, pointed out, in their 
proper places, what I thought most worthy my 
observation. 

In my translation I have endeavoured to avoid as 
much as possible these two extremes ; ^. e. neither 
by aiming at too florid a style to deviate too far from 
the original, nor yet, by keeping too close to the 
original, (which Horace calls too faithfully transla- 
ting,) render the phrase too low and bald ; that, by 
that means, it might be helpful to the learners of 
the Greek language, as well as others. And, to 
that end, I had, through the whole course of this 
work, those words of Horace in my mind :— 

Nee verbum verho curabis reddere fidus. 

And a little after, 



PREFACE. xlvii 



Ne 



Migret in obscuras humili sermone tabernas ; 
Aut (him vital humum, nubes et inania captet. 

And those of the learned and reverend Doctor 
Pearce, in the preface to his excellent edition of 
Longinus, only changing the word Latina'^nto 
Anglicana. 

Velim interpretemjidum esse, non sui ostentatorem: 
sit modo dictio ejus Anglicana, sint verba sensum 
Grceci authoris clare hreviterque exprimentia, non 
qucero an versio ornatum prce se ferat, i. e. I would 
have an interpreter be faithful, not a boaster of his 
art; let but his diction be good English, clearly 
and shortly expressing the sense of the Greek au- 
thor ; I desire not that his version be full of fine 
language. 

In my notes I have not scrupled to make bold 
with some of Mr. Dacier's remarks upon Aristotle ; 
Doctor Potter's Archaeologia Graeca, and other 
authors, when I found them conducive to my pur- 
pose. Yet most of the notes are my own, and if I 
have made upon any passage some remarks whidi 
have been made before, I either inform the reader of 



Xlviii PREFACE. 

it, if I know it ; and, if not, it is purely accidental 
that 1 happen to have the same thoughts with others 
concerning the same thing. 

As to this performance, if the reader finds in it 
any faults, — 

Quas aut incuriafudit, 

Aut humana parum cavit natura, 

I hope, in his own humanity, he will not aggravate 
or insist upon them to my condemnation. I have 
made it my endeavour every where to give the tru€ 
sense of. my author, and, if therein I have failed, it 
is no more than what others have done before me in 
works of this nature, who are much my superiors ; 
and that too, without the fault of them, but of the 
editors, and false glosses of commentators. 



THE 



TRAGEDY OF AJAX 



mv^mati^ ^er^Duae. 



Minerva. 
Ulysses. 

Ajax. 
Teucrus. 

' > the two Atridae. 
Agamemnon, S 

Tecmessa, Ajax's Captive, whom he married. 

EuRYSACES, Ajax's son by Tecmessa. 

A Messenger from Teucrus. 

Two Semi-choruses. 

Chorus of Salaminian Sailors. 

SCENE'-The Grecian Camp before Troy, near the 
Tent of Ajax. 



A J A X. 



The Argument. — After the death of Achilles^ Ajax and 
Ulysses contending for his armoury the matter was referred to 
the other Grecian chiefs, who adjudged it to the latter, as the 
worthier of the two. Whereupon Ajax, fired with rage at this 
indignity, resolved to satisfy his revenge hy killing those, as he 
thought, corrupt judges. But being, hy the Goddess Minerva, 
struck with madness for his contempt of her assistance, he turns all 
his rage against the flocks and herds which the Grecians had taken 
from the Trojans, and their keepers, killing and wounding them 
in a most ridiculously barbarous manner ; thinking all the time 
that he used the Atridce so. But when he came to himself, and 
considered the action as it really was, ridiculous and mean, and 
unworthy the glory of his own and father's name, the grief and 
shame thereof drove him to despair, and that to murder himself. 

This subject hath employed the pens of several tragedians 
before Sophocles; as JEschylus, who wrote a tragedy upon it, 
whose title was the Judgment of Arms ; and among the Romans, 
Pacuvius and Accius, and this of Sophocles is only a sequel of 
the same subject. 

For the nature of this tragedy it is simple, in opposition to 
implexa, that is, it continues from the beginning to the end 
without any change of fortune ; for, as Ajax at the beginning 
of it is in grief for what he had done, so it ends with his 
death and burial. 



ACT I. 

Scene I,— The Grecian Camp near the Tent of Ajax, where 
Ulysses stands prying about it, and the Voice of Minerva 
is heard in the Air. 

Min. "" O, son of ^ Laertes, I have always found 

* O son, <5fc.] The occasion of Minerva's appearance here is 
very important, and worthy the presence of a deity; namely, to 
inform Ulysses of what had been done by Ajax the night before 
in his madness ; which it was impossible should be known without 
divine assistance : for which reason it is every way agreeable to 
Horace's rule. 

Nee Deus intersit, nisi dignus vindice nodus 
fnciderit. 

Yet if the goddess could have contrived some other way to 
discover this action to Ulysses, which she might certainly have 
done, I am afraid Aristotle's rule will be against him. Art. Poet, 
cap. 16. " The unravelling of the subject (saith he; ought to be 
*' taken from the subject itself, without making use of any 
** machine ; or, if it be made use of, it ought to be out of the 
" action of the tragedy ; either to explain some things which 
" happened before, and which it is impossible for man to know, 
" or, to inform of something which will happen, concerning which 
" it is necessary to be instructed." For it was possible that 
Ulysses by the terror of some frightful dream sent by the goddess 
might rise up and surprise Ajax in the very fact ; as Queen Atossa 
by such a terror met the lords of Susa after Xerxes's defeat, or 
Ulysses according to his usual manners being watchful against 
dangers might have seen him by accident, yet such as the goddess 
might be supposed to have contrived ; if either of these, or any 
other way might have been contrived, without her personal ap- 
pearance, then Sophocles, according to Aristotle, hath failed. Yet 
(as Mr. Dacier observes) Aristotle was too severe ; for, says he, 
if the presence of a deity be absolutely necessary for the unravel- 
ling a plot, I see no reason why it should not be used although it 
be in the action : and we shall find but very fiew pieces among the 
ancients managed according to this rule, not even the Iphigeuia 
Taurica, Helena, Ion, and Electra of Euripides. For which 
reason Horace moderated this rule, and was content to say, ^ec 
Deus intersit, Sfc, 

^ O son of Laertes.] Ulysses was the supposed son of Laertes, 

B 2 



4 AJAX. 

thee, with ' watchful eyes, prevent those plots tliy 
enemies have formed, and turn them on their im- 
pious authors heads ; and now I see thee among the 
naval tents of Ajax, where he keeps the outmost 
guards, searching and tracing his newly-impressed 
steps, to see whether he be within or not ; thy search 
of him is certain as a Spartan hound's scent of the 
game. The man is now within, the sweat drops 
from his head, and murdering hands. Thou hast 
no business to look in at the gate, but to tell on what 
account thou searchest thus diligently, that thou 
mayest hear of me who know all the truth. 

ijlys. O voice of Minerva, well known to me 
though thou art not seen, most kind to me of all the 
goddesses, I both hear thy voice, and well discern 
it ; for as the sound of a brazen mouth ^ Tyrrhene 
trumpet surpasseth all others, so doth thy voice 
most delightfiU salute my ears. And now you know 
1 walk here on account of ' valiant Ajax, for him 

King of Ithaca, a country in Greece, and very much famed for 
his wisdom and other virtues, according to Horace, Ep. 2. Lib. 1. 

Rursus, quid virtus et quid sapientia possit. 
Utile proposuit nobis exemplar Ulyssem. 
He was the best of all the Grecian commanders except Achilles; 
but, according to Ulysses himself, Ajax was likewise his superior, 
though that might be said by him out of modesty, for it is plain 
the other Grecian chiefs thought not so. 

^ With watchful eyes.] Gr. %^ci;[xoi^yoy, as hunting, a metaphor 
taken from the practice of sportsmen, to find out their game by 
tract and scent of dogs. This figurative expression denotes the 
diligence of Ulysses in finding out the authors of the slaughter. 

^ Tyrrhene trumpet.] It was so called because it was invented 
by the Tyrrhenians, from whom it was communicated to the 
Grecians by one Arichondas, who came to assist the posterity of 
Hercules : others attribute the invention of it to Tyrrhenus, son 
of Hercules. Its orifice was cleft, and it sent out an exceeding 
loud and shrill sound. Therefore Ulysses here compares it to the 
goddess Minerva's voice. 

^ Valiant Ajax.] The Greek is ''A^xvl^ rZ a-ccHiatpo^cj, this epi- 
thet was peculiar to Ajax, according to Homer, who hath "A*ac 
^(ps^uv ffOiKo^, Ajax who bearelh a shield. 



AJAX. O 

and none else I sought out long: and this night he 
hath done a secret act, but how it was done we are 
not certain, but still wander in doubtfulness; and 
willingly I undertook this work, for we now find all 
our prey destroyed and killed by hands with the 
keepers of the flock : ^ every one lays the fault on 
him, and a certain spy hath declared that he saw 
him skipping over the fields, with his sword dropping 
with blood which he had newly shed. Immediate- 
ly I followed those steps, and some reasons induce 
me to charge the fault on him, but others make me 
doubt, so that I cannot certainly understand whose 
deeds these were, but thou art come in season to my 
aid, for, in every enterprise I take in hand, I am 
directed by thy governance. 

Min. I know it, Ulysses ; and therefore went out 
in thy way, to be assisting to thee in thy search. 

Ulys. And, dear goddess, do I undertake this 
labour to good purpose ? 

Min, Yes ; since the actions of this man concern 
thee. 

Ulys, And why hath he put his hand to so unac- 
countable an action ? 

Min, Being incensed with anger for the arms of 
Achilles. 

Vlys, But why doth he offer violence to flocks ? 

Min, Thinking that in your blood he imbrues his 
murdering hand. 

Ulys. And is that his design; doth he think he 
commits this slaughter on the Grecians ? 

Min. And he had perfected it, but for my care. 

Ulys. But wdth what impudence fraught and 
boldness of mind dare he commit that action ? 

^ Every one lays the fault.] Here is an instance of the extra- 
ordinary justice of Ulysses, that he was unwilling to believe what 
was charged against Ajax, without the clearest evidence : for he 
was so amazed at so unexpected a report, that he could not believe 
it without the positive information of the goddess. 



O AJAX. 

Min. A treacherous night-wanderer, alone he 
rushed upon you. 

Ulys. Was he near us? 
Min. At the door of the general's tent. 
Ulys. How did he restrain his raging hand from 
murder? 

Min. It was I who quelled his transports of joy, 
and cast before his eyes a mist that he could not 
discern right from wrong, and so I turned all his 
rage against the flocks and cattle, a promiscuous 
prey, which the herdsmen kept together, where, fall- 
ing on, he made a slaughter among the horned cat- 
tle, killing all round, and thought that with his own 
hand he killed the two Atridae ; and that he rushed 
now upon one of the commanders, now upon 
another : but I coming, pushed on the furious man, 
with a mad disease, into inextricable ills ; and after 
when he ceased from slaughter, binding again some 
living oxen with chains, he brings them into his tent, 
as if they were so many men, and not a prey of 
horned cattle, and now within the tent he scourgeth 
them. But I will shew thee evident signs of his 
disease, that when you see it you may carry the 
news to all the Grecians. Now be of courage, nor 
receive him as a dangerous man, or think his sight 
unfortunate ; for I will turn away his eyes from the 
sight of thee. You; I call you to come out, who 
bind captive-hands in chains; I call Ajax, come 
hither from thy tent. 

Ulys. What dost thou do, Minerva? By no 
means call him out. 

Min. Wilt thou not be silent? Wilt thou not 
banish fear? 

Ulys. By the gods, let it suffice he stay within. 

Min. Why must not he come? Was he not a 
man before, when he designed your death ! 

Ulys. Still now he is an enemy to me. 



AJAX. 7 

Min. s Is it not most delightful sport to laugh at 
ones enemies ? 

Ulys. It will satisfy me that he should stay within 
his tent. 

Min. It is plain thou fearest to see a madman. 

Ulys. I would not refuse to see him in his senses. 

Min. But he shall not see thee when he is present. 

Ulys. How ? if he sees with the same eyes. 

Min. I will cast a mist before his eyes. 

Ulys. Let all be done by the contrivance of the 
goddess. 

Min. Stand silently as thou art. 

Ulys. Though I stay, yet had I rather be absent. 

Min. Ho! you, I call thee, Ajax; why so little 
dost thou revere thy helper? 



ACT I. SCENE II. 
Minerva^ Ajax, Ulysses. 

Aj. Hail, Minerva, hail, Daughter of Jove ! well 
art thou present, and I will crown thee with golden 
spoils for thy assistance in this hunting. 

Min. Thou hast well said, but tell me this ; hast 
thou well stained thy sword in Grecian blood ? 

Aj. There is reason for boasting, I do not deny it. 

Min. Hast thou used thy power against the 
Atridae ? 

Aj. Ay, so that they shall never dishonour Ajax 
more. 

Min. They are dead, as I understand thy words. 

Aj. Now dead, let them take away my armour. 

2 Is it not a most delightful sport.] Minerva here as a goddess 
takes that liberty of talking, which would have been unbecoming 
another, to shew the placable temper of Ulysses, which was not 
to delight in the misfortunes of his enemies. 



3 AJAX. 

Min, Be it so. What of the son of Laertes; in 
what state is he ? Hath he escaped ? 

Aj, That crafty fox; dost thou ask me where 
he is? 

Min. I mean Ulysses, thy adversary. 

Aj. Adored goddess, he is bound within ; I will 
not haTe him die yet. 

Min. What more wouldst thou do ? Or what 
more gain ? 

Aj. First bound to thq pillar of the tent. 

Min. What harm wouldst thou do the miserable 
man? 

Aj. After I have made his back bleed with a 
scourge, then he shall die. 

Min. Do not so afflict the wretch. 

Aj. In other things, Minerva, I suffer thee to 
triumph ; but he shall suffer this, and no other 
punishment. 

Min. Thou, therefore, since it is thy pleasure to 
do this, use thy power, spare to do nothing of what 
thou conceivest. 

Aj. I go to the work, in this I obey thee. And 
mayest thou be ever such an assister to me. 



ACT I. SCENE III. 

Minerva, Ulysses. 

Min. ^Thou seest, Ulysses, the power of the 
gods, how great it is : who was more prudent than 

^ Thou seest f Ulysses.] She instructs him, by the example of 
Ajax, never to oppose the gods, which he had done in three in- 
st<ances ; first, in throwing Minerva from her chariot ; second, in 
erasing out of his armour the owl which was engraven on it ; 
third, in not obeying his father, who advised him not to disobey 
the gods, for none (she told him) that ever do, thrive, as appears 
by the examples of Thamyris and Niobe. 

Ulysses in his answer to the goddess, acknowledges the sound- 



AJAX. 9 

this man? Who more equal formed to do the no- 
blest exploits. 

Ulys. I know none; but I lament him much, 
being quite wretched, though an enemy, for he is 
entangled in an inextricable misfortune. I look on 
nought that has befallen him more than what may 
befal myself: for, I see that all mortals are nought 
else but images or a vain shadow. 

Min. Therefore, seeing this, speak no proud 
word against the gods, nor shew thy haughtiness in 
contemptuous speeches, if you exceed others in bo- 
dily strength, or abound more with wealth, since 
one day is enough to ruin and raise up all human 
things ; but the gods love the prudent and hate the 
wicked. 



ACT I. SCENE IV. 
Chorus, 
Cfio. ' O, son of Telamon, who rulest the mara- 



ness of her doctrine, and how little reason mortals have to lift up 
themselves against the gods, since the greatest upon earth derive 
their pedigree from no better principle than the vilest earth-worms. 

0^03 ya,p rifAa,(; ti^uXoc xat x»(p*jv crxtav. Euripidcs hath a sentence like 
it. "AvSgwTTo? Ifi wevfjLXf xou a-nia /aovov. Hor. Pulvis et umbra 
sumus, Anac. '®\iyvi xon<;. And even the Apostle St. James, 

ch. IV. V. 14. XlfAn; TT^oij o\iyov (poavofXEvr), kou stthtoc a.<pstvi^o[A.iyrj> A 

vapour that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. 
By this we see that the first design of the theatre was not merely 
to amuse men unprofitably, but likewise to instruct them by 
rational and wholesome precepts. 

^ O son of Telamon.] Horace, in his Art of Poetry, recites 
the several offices of the Chorus in these words : 

Hie bonis faveatque, et concilietur amicis, 
Et refi^at iratoSf et amet peccare timentes : 
Ille dapes laudet mensce brevis ; ille salubrem 
Justiiiam, Sfc, 

And Sophocles, in every one of his tragedies, strictly obser\'es 



10 AJAX. 

time island of Salamis, I rejoice at thy prosperity ; 
but, when a blow from Jove, or any hostile speech 
of the Grecians spitefully uttered sullies thy honour, 
I am seized with as great concern and fear, ^ as the 
timorous dove at the approach of danger. So the 
last night great terror seized me, caused by an ill 
report that thou, ^ raging with madness, entering 
the pasture, didst destroy the cattle of the Grecians, 
the spoils taken in war, and slew them with sword 
in hand. Ulysses, framing these backbiting tales, 
conveys them to the ears of all, and well succeeds, 
and speaks things that appear credible of thee ; and 
eveiy one who hears him rejoices much, insulting your 
griefs. The " darts of envy soonest hit great souls : 
if any said such things against me, he would not gain 
belief; but riches always expose men to envy. The 
small, without the assistance of the great, are a weak 
defence to themselves ; for, if the great are supported 
by those of low degree, much more are the poor sup- 
ported by the great. But it is not possible that even 
the most inconsiderate men should believe the truth 
of this report, for the babbling of such men : we 
can be of no assistance to thee in this matter, but, 
when they see thy countenance, they tremble as the 
flocks of birds who fly for fear of the great vulture. 



these rules in the songs, and other parts of the Chorus, of which 
this is one proof ; for the Chorus here, which consisted of Sala- 
minian countrymen, and subjects of Ajax, are unwilling to be- 
lieve the foul report, but rather impute it to the envy of the 
Grecians; and, through the whole piece, conceive joy or grief 
from the good or ill fortune of their king. 

^ As the timorous dove.] The scholiast notes here, that doves 
are a very timorous animal, and that when any noise affrights them 
they shut their eyes. 

^ Raging with madness.] Gr. lirirofAuvr^j mad as a horse. The 
scholiast notes here, that the madness of horses is the most fierce 
of any kind of creature. 

"" Darts of envy soonest hit great souls.] As archers with most 
ease hit the greatest mark, so the tongue of calumny soonest 



AJAX. 11 

Strophe I. 

" Surely Diana, daughter of Jove, who is wor- 
shipped in Scythia, (O, great fame, thou mother 
of our disgrace,) thrust thee on upon the pubHc herds 
of cattle, probably for having not received the tri- 
bute due to her of thanks and praise for the victory 
in which she assisted thee; or defrauded of her 
part of noble spoils taken in hunting; or Mars, 
whose breast is always armed with brass, and his 
attending god, Enyalius, by nightly contrivances, 
revenged the affront. 

Antistrophe I. 

For never in thy right senses, O son of Telamon, 
thou wouldst have done such imprudent actions, so 
fallen upon flocks. Some distemper which the gods 
inflict might cause it; but may Jove and Apollo 
avert the sad report; or if the great commanders of 
the army deceived believe these reports, or come 

wounds the greatest. This kind of comparison of fame to a can 
Don is made by our own Shakspeare, in Hamlet, Act IV. Scene I 

Come, Gertrude, we^ll call up our wisest friends, 
And let them know both what we mean to do 
And what's untimely done: perhaps* fame. 
Whose whisper o'er the world's diameter. 
As level as the cannon to his blank, 
Transports his poison'd shot, may miss our name. 
And hit the woundless air. 

" Surely, Diana, daughter of Jove, who is worshipped in 
Scythia.l This may be understood of Diana, the goddess and 
patroness of hunters, who is worshipped in Taurus, a place in 
Scythia: or the moon, which turns people to madness ; she being, 
as is well known, the same with Diana and Proserpine, only dif- 
ferently called in respect of her different functions. This the 
Chorus speaks out of benevolence to Ajax, that if he did this 
fact, it could not be out of a well-weighed judgment and sound 
mind, but moon-struck phrenzy, or some extraordinary cause. 

• Which, Mr. Theobald says, hath been erroneously left out in printing. 



12 AJAX. 

they from the vile ''son of Sisyphus, no longer, O 
king ! hiding thy head — in the naval tents, endure it. 

Epode. 

But rise from that place where you are long fixed 
in ease, apt to breed more strife, M^hile you provoke 
divine vengeance; but the injuries of thy enemies 
succeed against thee p without opposition, while with 
their tongues they utter heavy reproaches ; but grief 
oppresseth me. 



ACT II. SCENE I. 
Tecmessa, Chorus. 
Tec. "" O ship-companions of Ajax, *^ Athenians by 

** Son of Sisj/phus.] The Chorus means Ulysses, who was son 
of Anticlea, and Sisyphus, king of Corinth. Sisyphus was the 
most subtle of men, he engraved his name on the hoofs of his 
cattle, so that none could discern it but himself: Autolycus, who 
lived by theft, changed the shape of every thing he had stole, and 
stealing Sisyphus's cattle, he changed them likewise : but, not- 
withstanding this, Sisyphus, knowing his inscription, challenged 
his cattle; whereupon Autolycus kindly received him, and pros- 
tituted to him his daughter Anticlea, of whom he begat Ulysses, 
but he, being brought up with Laertes, was called his son. 

P Without opposition.'^ Gr. Iv tvccvBi/,oiq ^aaa-uK;. In valleys 
exposed to the wind ; i. e. it runs like wildfire. 

*i O ship- companions.] Here the poet introduces Tecmessa, 
giving an account of what Ajax had done; and likewise the Cho- 
rus informs her, that the cattle which he had slain belonged to 
the Grecians : so, by informing each other of what they were igno- 
rant of before, are confirmed in the belief of the report which 
Ulysses spread, which he received from Minerva. Tecmessa was 
the captive bride of Ajax, and therefore may well be supposed to 
shew the same concern for him as Briseis did for Achilles. 

*■ Athenians hy descent y we mourn, being.] This the poet says» 
only to attract the benevolence of the audience, who consisted of 
Athenians when this piece was first acted. For though Salamis 
was near Athens, yet they were different countries ; nor can I see 
why they have a title to be called Athenians, because Telamort 



AJAX. 13 

descent, we mourn, being careful for the welfare of 
Telamon's son, far from his country; for now the 
terrible, the great, and brave Ajax, lies overwhelmed 
in a storm of woe. 

Cho, What grief hath the night produced to damp 
his former joy? Thou daughter of Phrygian Teleu- 
tas, since valiant Ajax preserving thee, keeps thee 
as his captive bride, so that from thy knowledge 
thou may est speak. 

Tec. How should I speak what is not to be ut- 
tered? For you would hear of sorrow equal to 
death; for the noble Ajax, seized with madness, in 
the night hath offended : this you may know ; be- 
hind the tent cattle slain with hands, all stained 
with blood, the ruins wrought by this man, witness 
his crime. 

Strophe. 

Cho. What report dost thou bring of this furious 
man, intolerable and yet undeniable, before spread 
by the great army of the Grecians, which much dis- 
course spreads farther ? Woe is me ! I fear the ap- 
proaching ill ; for this illustrious man will die with 
his self-smiting hand, after he hath slain the cattle 
with his bloody sword; and the keepers of the 
flocks. 

Tec. Woe is me ! He is come hither bringing cap- 
tive beasts, whereof he hath slain one within upon 
the ground ; others striking, he hath divided in two, 
taking two white rams, of one he hath, as a mower, 
cut off the head and tongue, and hath flung it away ; 
tying another to a pillar, and taking a great horse- 
whip, he whips him dismally with a double cord, 



was of -^gina, near that country, as the scholiast would fain per- 
suade us. If b\ the words n ^t uiyivccy t?? arJixj)?, he means iEgina, 
Telamon's grandmother, she was daughter of ^sopus, King of 
Bopotia, which was divided from Attica by the hill Cytheron. 



14 AJAX. 

reproaching with vile words, which some evil demon, 
and no man, hath taught him. 

Antistropiie. 

Cho, Now is it time that every one of us should 
veil his head, and privately take flight, or else 
speedily embark, and launching out our ships, sail 
with a fall career. The two Atridae thunder such 
threats against us, 'I fear being stoned to death, lest 
we should suffer punishment with him whom inevita- 
ble madness hath seized. 

Tec. He rageth no more, but ceaseth as the fierce 
south wind, if the lightnings cease to flash : and 
now grown wise, new grief possesseth him. For the 
consideration of evils, caused by ourselves when we 
have none else on whom we can charge them, is 
most afflicting. 

Cho. But if he hath ceased from his madness, 
then I think we are happy. For, since the evil is 
vanished, we have the less reason to be concerned. 

Tec. Whether if any should grant the choice, 
wouldst thou chuse to afflict thy friends, while thou 
thyself art in pleasure, or to be in the same common 
calamity with them ? 

Cho. The two-fold evil is the greatest. 

Tec. Therefore Ajax, though in his senses, is 
miserable. 

Cho. What is that thou hast said? I know not 
what thou sayest. 

Tec. When this man was afflicted with his disease, 
he was pleased with those evils in which he was 
plunged; but aflOiicted us who were sensible, with 
sorrow: but now that he hath ceased, and breathed 
from his disease, he is quite changed with sudden 



^ I fear being stoned to death.] Gr. 'mi(po^Y,iA,a,i Xicr^o'Ktvroy a,^r,v, 
I fear Mars the stoner. The word a^n^, both here and in many 
other places in Sophocles, signifies deatii. 



AJAX. 15 

grief, but we are no otherwise than before : these 
are therefore two evils instead of one. 

Cho. I agree with thee, and fear, least a blow 
should come from some god, and strike us. But 
how, if he is free from his disease, is he no more 
satisfied than when he was diseased? 

Tec, You must be informed how tlie case was. 

Cho. How did the mischief begin? declare it to 
us, since we are partakers in the giief. 

Tec. You shall know the whole matter, as being 
partaker in the sorrow. Towards the end of the 
night, when the * evening lamps no longer shined, 
taking his two-edged sword, he sought vain pre- 
tences to go out. I blamed him, and said what dost 
thou, Ajax? Why, unbidden, nor called by any of 
the messengers, dost thou attempt thus to go out, 
nor alarmed by the trumpet's voice, but now when 
the whole army sleeps. He spoke to me what was 
short, but usually said silence is an ornament to 
women. Then, hearing this, I ceased, but he 
rushed out alone, nor can I say what he did there ; 
but he came in leading bulls tied together, dogs 
which guarded the flocks, and a prey of horned 
cattle. Some he decollated, turning others upside 
down, he slew and "dissected, others he beat as 
captives, thus raging against the herd ; then rushing 
forth to the door, he held discourse "with some sha- 
dow; now against the Atridae, now speaking of 
Ulysses, uttering many ridiculous speeches, men- 
tioning how great an injury he repaid them : then, 



* Lamps no longer shined.] i.e. When the evening stars shone 
no longer ; or, rather, when the lamps that were set up in the 
evening, to give light in the camp, went out. 

" With some shadow.] Here, Tecraessa, not knowing that the 
goddess Minerva talked with Ajax, imputes his hastening out of 
his tent when he was called by her, and his discoursing with her, 
to his madness ; for mad folks usually either talk to themselves 
or with their own shadow. 



16 AJAX. 

rushing in again to the tent ; in a while he returned 
to himself, and when he saw the tent full of ruins 
he had made, striking his breast, he roared out, 
and sate down among the slaughtered sheep, and 
holding his hair fast in his finger nails, he sate a 
great while speechless ; at last he uttered dismal 
threats against me, unless I shewed how every mis- 
fortune happened, and inquired in what he had 
been employed ; and I, friends, out of fear, gave 
him a perfect relation of all that had passed, as far 
as I knew. He presently made the whole tent re- 
sound with dismal cries, such as I never heard be- 
fore from him, for he always reckoned such lamen- 
tations proper only to weak and faint spirits. Dis- 
daining, therefore, such shrill cries, he used to roar 
out like a bellowing bull. But now, afflicted with 
such a sad misfortune, without eating or drinking, 
among the cattle, slain with the sword, he sits 
down, and he is certainly prepared to do some 
desperate deed, he speaks such things, and utters 
such complaints. "" But, O, friends, I beseech you 
(for, for this cause I came out) go in and help 
him, if you can in ought, for such men are prevailed 
upon by their friends. 

Cho. O, Tecmessa, daughter of Teleutas, thou 
tellest us terrible news, that Ajax is mad in his 
misfortunes. 

Aj. Woe is me 1 

Tec. Presently he will cry louder, have you not 
heard? 
^ Aj. Woe is me ! 



* But, O friends, I beseech you go in and help him.] The 
contrivance of the poet is admirable here, who, in order to bring 
Ajax to shew his grief upon the stage, introduceth first Tecmessa, 
begging the assistance of the Chorus to comfort Ajax, as being 
abler to do it than she, who was but a weak woman and a cap- 
tive ; then, lest the Chorus should go out for that purpose, sup- 
poseth Ajax to bawl out from within. 



AJAX. 17 

Cho. The man seems to be still afflicted with his 
disease, or grieved with the remembrance of his 
former madness. 

J^. O son, son! 

Tec, Woe is me a wretch ! Hurysaces, he bawls 
out for thee. What doth he desire with all this 
earnestness ? 

Aj. y I call Teucrus, where is Teucrus ? Will he 
ever be chasing his prey, while I perish] 

Cho. The man seems to be sensible, open the 
door, perhaps he will have some discretion when 
he sees me. 

Tec. ^Behold, I open, you may see his actions, 
and in what case he is. 



ACT II. SCENE II. 

Ajax, Tecmessa, Chorus. 

Ajax. Woe is me, friends and ship-companions, 
and only of all my friends who persevere in the 
strict law of friendship. ^ You see how waves, as 



y I call Teucrus."] Ajax, having determined with himself not 
to survive the disgrace of killing the cattle, calls for Teucrus to 
commit to him the care of his child after bis decease. This, sup- 
posing the absence of Teucrus was very suitable to the purpose 
of the poet ; for, had he been at home, he would have been a 
curb to Ajax's rage of grief. There is much the same conduct 
observed in the Electra, where ^gisthus is supposed to be in the 
fields, which gives a better opportunity to Electra to utter her 
complaints before the spectators, and so to move their compas- 
sion, which is one great end of tragedy. 

* Behold, I open y you may see.] Here is represented to the view 
of the spectators, Ajax, all bloody, lying, with his bloody sword, 
among the slaughtered cattle ; a circumstance very moving. 

* You see how waves.] Ajax here, in order to shew the great- 
ness of his calamity, makes use of a figurative representation of 
it, drawn from things most familiar to sailors, viz. the violent 
agitation of the waves after a storm. 

C 



18 AJAX. 

a ship beaten by a terrible storm, exercise all their 
fury against me. 

Cho, Woe is me! How true what thou hast at- 
tested now appears, the thing is plain, that he is 
beside himself. 

Aj. Woe is me ! Ye race of men, assistants in 
the naval art, who sailed hither rowing the oars in 
the sea, you alone I have found, of all the chiefs, 
regarding me; now all of you together rid me of 
my wretched life. 

Cho. Speak good words I pray, ^ lest, applying a 
bad remedy to a bad disease, you bring upon your- 
self a worse evil than the former. 

Aj. Thou seest me a brave stout-hearted man, 
and undaunted in battles of war, now dreadful 
with my hands among innocent cattle; woe is 
me, what slaughter have I made? How have I 
made myself a reproach ? 

Tec, O, my lord Ajax, I beseech you say 
not so. 

Aj, "" Wilt thou not go hence ? Alas ! alas ! 

Cho. By the gods, submit and be wise. 

Aj. O, unfortunate wretch that I am, who let go 
from my hand those villains, and falling upon inno- 
cent oxen and goats, spilt their black blood. 

Cho, Why shouldest thou grieve for what is done, 
for it cannot be undone ? 

Aj. O, thou who seest all things, and art the 
instrument of all mischief, the most filthy varlet of 
the army, now how dost thou laugh at me, what 
pleasure dost thou take ? 



^ Lest applying,^ i. e. Strive not to hasten on your death, 
which will be an evil worse than your disease of madness. 

^ Wilt thou not go hence.] Tecmessa continuing to break in 
upon the discourse which Ajax holds with the Chorus, he desires 
her to retire into the tent, not out of contempt, as being his cap- 
tive, but familiarity, as his wife. 



AJAX. 19 

Cho. '^ Every one laughs or mourns by God's 
permission. 

Aj. O, that I might see him though thus afflicted ; 
woe is me ! 

Cho. Speak nothing great ; seest thou not to what 
evil thou art come ? 

Aj, O Jupiter, the father of my ancestors, that I 
could first destroy that flattering enemy, that vaga- 
bond, and the other two princes, and at last die 
myself. 

Tec. Since you pray for such things, pray like- 
wise that I may die ; why should I live when thou 
art dead ? 

Aj. O my light, now darkness, that shone on me, 
now dark as hell, take, O take me an inhabitant to 
your gloomy regions, for 1 cannot look to the race 
of gods or meek men for assistance ; but the power- 
ful daughter of Jove persecutes me to death. 
Whither can I flee? Where shall I rather remain? 
For my misfortunes destroy me, and we are undone 
with that foolish prey ; and the whole army on every 
side w ith all their power will destroy me. 

Tec. Woe is me : so great a man to say such 
things now, as before he w ould have disdained to 
say! 

Aj. O brooks that flow into the sea, and caves 
and forests near the shore, long time you have kept 
me at Troy, but no longer with breath you shall. 
O neighbouring streams of Scamander favouring the 
Argives, you shall no more see me.^ ^ I speak a 

^ Every one laughs.] As all things are by the permission of 
the gods, who often turn bad actions to good ends, so likewise 
that Ulysses should sport himself with your misfortunes is by 
their permission. 

'^ I speak a bold word.] In the condition Ajax was, it was not 
unseemly for him to boast of his greatness, but it rather increaseth 
the passion of the tragedy. Thus in the Trachinia?, Hercules 
near his death boasted in these words : — 

c 2 



20 AJAX. 

bold word, such a one as Troy never saw in the 
army which came from the Grecian land, and now 
dishonoured I lie here. 

Cho. I know not how to hinder thee, or suffer 
thee to speak, being plunged in so much evil. 

Aj, ^ Ah ! who could think my name should thus 
agree with my evils ? Now is it time for me thrice 
to lament, being plunged into so many miseries: 
8 whose father from the land of Idaea having done 
the noblest deeds in war, came home loaded with 
honours ; but I, his son, came to this place, not with 
less strength endowed, nor famed for less achieve- 
ments; now dishonoured of the Grecians, here I 
perish : ^ and so much I think I know, if living 
Achilles were to decide the controversy of the 
armour, and to adjudge to either the precedence in 
valour, none else should have them but me. But 
now the Atridae allowed wisdom as proper only to 

>^sovl , OiTiXi^ov B^e{/,jxa, xaTT^ocrjjJo^av, &C. 

The Njpostle St. Paul himself did the same, when he said, 2 
Tim. iv. 6. ** I am now ready to be offered, and the time of mv 
*' departure is at hand, I have fought a good fight," &c. 

^ Ah ! who could think my name.] Here is what we call a 
pun, which Ajax makes upon his own name, whose two first 
letters are the same with al, a word of sorrow. This I fear is 
scarce becoming the gravity of this kind of poem. 

2 Whose father from the land.] His father Telamou, assisting 
Hercules in his wars against Troy, was the first who mounted the 
wall : wherefore Hercules gave him ra m^ura xaXXtr£<«, the chief 
reward, which was Hesione daughter of Laomedon. The occa- 
sion of this war was, because Laomedon denied to give Hercules 
the two white horses he was to have had as a reward of his valour 
in slaying the sea-monster, and delivering Hesione, who was to 
have been devoured by him. 

* And so much I think I know.] Observe all along, how 
Ajax's discourse savours of the pride and haughtiness of his 
spirit. 



AJAX. 21 

that crafty Ulysses, ' slighting my virtues : unless 
my eyes and mind had diverted me from my reso- 
lution, they had never passed a judgment against 
any other man ; but now the terrible, the invincible 
goddess, daughter of Jove, hath deceived me, when 
I stretched out my hand against them, inflicting on 
me a violent disease, so that in the blood of those 
oxen I stained my hand, but the Atridae, having 
escaped against my will, deride me. But when 
God opposeth, the weak may escape the stronger ; 
and now what must I do, who apparently am hated 
of the gods? The Grecian army hates me, all 
Troy hates me, and the neighbouring country. 
Shall I go home and leave the ports wherein my 
ships are harboured, and the Atridae to themselves, 
and sail home over the jEgean sea? Whrirt fame 
can I shew my father Telamon ? How will he en- 
dure to see me returned empty and without noble 
spoils, with which he once went ladeR home? 
That is not to be borne. But what if I go to the 
Trojan guards arid attacking them by myself fall in 
some brave action ? But there I should gratify the 
Atridae ; it never shall be : but some action must be 
attempted, and such whereby I may shew my old 
father that I am no degenerate coward. It is the 
certain sign of a base spirit, to covet a long life 
which is attended with many troubles. What com- 
fort can there be in a multitude of days which only 
serve to defer desired death? And I look upon 
liim as the vilest of wretches who encourageth him- 
self with fruitless hopes ; but it becomes a generous 
man bravely to live, or as bmvely to die in the 
pursuit of glory ; thou hast heard the sum of what 
I had to say. 

Cho. Nobody can say, my lord, that thou hast 

' Slighting my viriuts.'] The Greek is kv^^oq thIi^ of this rnau, 
meaning himself, a way of speaking very familiar with Sophocles. 



22 AJAX. 

spoke unlike thyself: ^ yet cease from this fury of 
thy mind, and let the judgment of thy friends pre- 
vail, and lay aside those cares. 

Tec. O my lord Ajax, no greater evils can afflict 
mankind than fortune's malice often lays upon us. 
I am descended of a free father, and the most 
vrealthy of the Phrygians, but now^ I am a servant, 
for so the gods and your victorious hand would have 
it ; but, since I w^as raised to your bed, you are the 
only object of my love. Therefore I beseech you 
by domestic Jove, and by "" our marriage bed, 
which makes us one, suffer me not to endure a re- 
proach among thy enemies ; for, if thou wilt die and 
leave me, be assured that I in that day shall be 
dragged away with indignity by the Grecians to live 
a servile life, together with thy child. And some 
harsh master will bitterly reproach me, whose spleen 
shall dictate words like these : " Behold the con- 
*' cubine of Ajax, who was the most powerful 
" prince in ail the army, what servitude doth she 
" now endure instead of how much honour?" Thus 

^ Yet cease from thiSy <^c.] The Chorus here, endeavouring to 
comfort Ajax, takes the liberty of a friend and talks more 
boldly than Tecmessa ; for she artfully, shewing her condition, 
endeavours to mollify him, by moving him to pity. 

^ By domestic Jove.] Those who cohabited together, saith the 
Scholiast, invocated domestic Jove, those who were friends friendly 
Jove, those in the same fortune social Jove, strangers hospitable 
Jove, those who swore to each other Horkius, those who prayed 
Hikesius, and brothers Homognius Jove; but doubtless it was the 
same Jove who was always meant, but differently styled, in respect 
of his different offices. 

"' By our marriage bed.] Here Tecmessa modestly puts Ajax 
in mind of their conjugal loves: whereas, Euripides hath been 
guilty of a fault in his Hecuba, in introducing that queen speak- 
ing very immodestly: 

But Sophocles here imitates Homer, who introduceth Andromache 
endeavouring to move Hector to compassion, and divert him from 
his purpose of going to the battle. 



AJAX. 23 

will my fat^ undo me: such foul reproaches are 
unbecoming thee or thy race. Therefore respect thy 
aged father whom thou hast left at home; respect 
thy mother who with many prayers solicits the gods 
for ytDur safe return home; pity, my lord, thy child, 
who if deprived of you will be brought up under 
unfriendly tutors. This will be our sad portion of 
evils when you die. For me I have nothing to 
which I can look with hopes of succour besides thee ; 
thou hast destroyed my country by the sword, my 
mother likewise, and death hath taken my father to 
the inhabitants below. What country therefore will 
supply the want of thee? What riches? In thee I 
am only safe : but remember me, a man ought to 
remember the benefits he hath received, for kindness 
always begets kindness : but from whom the memory 
of good treatment slips, he cannot be esteemed a 
generous man. 

Cho. I would thy stubborn heart were mollified 
like mine with pity, thou wouldest applaud her 
speeches. 

Aj. And much applause shall she have of me, if 
she vdll only do what I command her. 

Tec. My lord, thou shalt ever find me obedient 
to thy will. 

Aj, Bring to me then my child, that I may see 
him. 

Tec. But I sent him away for fear. 

Aj, Of me, when my distemper seized me; was 
it not so ? 

Tec. Ay, lest you should happen to meet the 
poor infant and slay him. 

Aj, That act indeed would not have been unlike 
rae. 

Tec. Therefore his safety was my care. 

Aj. I commend the deed, and the diligence you 
used. 

Tec. Wherein therefore can I serve thee? 



24 AJAX. 

Aj. Permit me to see and speak to him. 

Tec. He is attended by the servants hard by. 

Aj. What therefore hinders that I may not enjoy 
his presence? 

Tec. My child, thy father calls thee. Brin^ him 
hither whosoever of the servants bears him in his 
arms. 

Aj. Doth he answer to thy call, or did he not 
hear thee? 

Tec. One of the servants brings him hither. 

[JEurysaces is brought in by a servant. 

Aj. Bear him hither, he will not fear when he 
looks on this fresh slaughter, if he be truly my son. 
He must be instructed in his youth in the fierce 
manners of his father, and be made like him in his 
nature. Nay, child, mayest thou be more happy 
than thy father, in other things like him, and thou 
wilt be no ill man. And herein I reckon thee happy 
that thou art sensible of none of these evils; in 
knowing nothing is the happiest life, for not to know 
is an ill that never causeth gi'ief. For when thou art 
arrived to that perfection of understanding, that 
thou canest tell what it is to rejoice and grieve, thou 
mayest shew among my enemies of what father thou 
art descended. In the mean while let thy tender 
spirits so support thee, that as the vigour of thy 
mind increases thou mayest increase thy mother's 
joy. I know none of the Grecians will injure thee 
with vile reproaches, though absent from me : I will 
leave thee Teucrus for thy guardian, who will care- 
fully instruct thy youth, though he is now far off, 
"keeping guard against the enemies. But, O 

" Keeping guard against the enemies.'] i. e. the Thracians : for, 
toward the end of the Trojan wars, they assisted the Trojans, 
wherefore the Grecians set ambuscades at all the avenues and pas- 
sages out of that country, that they might fall upon them in their 
way, and cut them off before they joined the Trojans. The poet 
therefore supposed Teucrus to have been one of those whose post 



A J AX. 2S 

soldiers, seafaring people, I intreat this favour of 
you all, to declare this my command to him, that, 
taking my child to my palace in Salamis, he may 
shew him to Telamon and to my mother Eribcea, 
that he may be their continual comfort in old age, 
until they arrive at the chambers of the infernal 
gods. Nor shall any expose my armour to the 
Grecians as the subject of another contest, nor to 
my plague Ulysses ; but thou child take that which 
hath thy ° name, Eurysaces, and hold it, turning b} 
the folded rein, the sevenfold impenetrable shield : 
Pmy other armour shall be buried with me. But 
speedily receive this child, take him hence, nor fill 
the tent with thy cries. The woman much laments, 
shut quick the doors, '^ it is not the part of a wise 
physician to repeat enchantments to a wound that 
requires cutting. 

Cho. I feared thy resolution, for thy tongue so 
sharpened pierceth me. 

Tec. O, my lord Ajax, what hast thou resolved 
to do? 

Aj. Judge not nor inquire, it is a good thing to 
be prudent. 

Tec. Woe is me, how I despond, and I beseech 
thee by thy infant and the gods betray us not. 
' Aj. Thou grievest much, knowest thou not that 
I am no more a debtor to the gods? 

was to watch them ; and him, being his brother, Ajax promiseth 
to leave Tecmessa and Eurysaces, as their defender against those 
dangers which she was apprehensive they would be in after hi* 
death. 

° Which hath thy name.] His name was composed of the two 
words, tv^vq and craxo?, a broad shield. 

P My other armour shall be buried ivith me.] Thus Homer 
TBentions one who after his death was burnt with his armour: 
AAA ci^cc (/,1V KOtlex.vj£ a-i/v ivlea-t ^ai^aAfot^j. 

^ It is not the part, S^c] This is spoke in allusion to an an- 
cient custom of curing by enchantments or music; so the stin* 
of the tarantula is said only to be cured by music. 



26 A J AX. 

Tec, Good words, I beseech thee. 
Aj. Speak to those who will hear thee. 
Tec. And wilt thou not yield to me? 
Aj. Thou talkest very much. 
Tec. I fear, O king. 

AA, Wilt thou not shut her up? \To the Chorus. 
Tec. Now by the gods be mild. 
Aj. Thou thinkest foolishly, if thou thinkest to 
instruct my manners. 



ACT II. SCENE III. 

Chorus. 

Strophe I. 

Cho. O Salamis, who art encompassed by the 
raging sea, thou happy isle, how dost thou enjoy 
the praise of every tongue? But I, unhappy wretch, 
it is a long time since I have here remained in mount 
Ida's verdant pastures, of no account, harassed 
with the tedious toils of war, having the sad hope that 
I should at last arrive at the dark abominable 
grave. 

Antistrophe I. 

And to me incurable Ajax ' is second in misfor- 
tunes ; still, alas ! continuing in that madness, sent 
by divine appointment, whom thou, O Salamis, 
didest send out before a victor in many battles ; but 

"■ Is second in misfortunes i] The Greek word is i(pE^^oq ; which 
is derived from Ittj and e^^a, and primarily signifies no mare than 
one who sits by, or a looker on ; but among the Greeks it was 
used to signify him, who, when two had wrestled before, wrestled 
with him who had the mastery. So here the Chorus uses it in a 
metaphorical sense, to signify that Ajax is their second, or is 
plunged in the same calamities with them. 



AJAX. ^7 

now beside himself he plungeth his friends into 
sad griefs >; and all his other acts performed witli 
his valiant hand are slighted by the unkind Atridse. 

Strophe II. 
How his miserable mother, worn out with many 
days, and full of grey hairs, when she hears that 
he is afflicted with madness, unhappy will lament, 
not with the lamentations of the sorrowful nightin- 
gale, but will bewail with piercing cries, with clap- 
ping of her hands, striking her aged breast, and 
tearing her grey hairs. 

Antistrophe II. 

Better is he who lies hid in the dark grave than 
he who is diseased without relief. For Ajax, when 
he left his father's family, was the greatest of all 
the Grecians, but now no longer continueth in his 
accustomed manners, but is beside himself. O 
miserable father! what a sad calamity w^hich is 
befallen your son will shortly wound your ears, a 
calamity which no age ever saw befall the descen- 
dants of ^acus except this. 



ACT III. SCENE I. 

Ajax, Chorus. 

Aj. ' Long and infinite duration of time brings 

all hidden things from their gloomy coverts, and 

conceals things which now appear : there is nothing 

that is not to be hoped for ; even the most sacred 

' Long and infinite duration of time.] Here Ajax comes in 
and talks as if by the persuasion of Tecmessa he were reconciled 
to life, but this must be understood as the effect of a sudden 
passion, or a pretence the better to carry on his purpose ; for soon 
after he went out and fell upon his sword. 



28 aJax. 

oaths and stubborn minds are broken. 1 who con- 
tinued long stubborn, * as slacked iron, am gi-own 
mild by this woman's discourses : for I am touched 
with pity on her behalf, lest I should leave her a 
widow among my enemies, and my child an orphan ; 
" but I will go to the streams and pasture near the 
shores, that I may purify myself from my filthiness, 
and so escape the grievous anger of the goddess ; 
and going until I find some unfrequented place, I 
will hide this thy sword, the most hated of all thy 
armour, in a hole dug in the earth, where none 
shall see it, but night and the grave will keep it 
below. But I, since 1 received in my hands this 
gift of Hector, the worst of all my enemies, re- 
ceived nothing acceptable from the Grecians; but 
it is a true proverb among men, " the gifts of ene- 
mies are not gifts, nor profitable. Wherefore for 
the future we shall learn to honour the Atridae : they 
are our governors, so that we must submit; why 
not? Things most potent and divine submit to 
honours : ^ the snowy winter submits to the fruitful 

* As slacked iron am grown mild.] As iron which being dipped 
in oil grows softer, so am I mollified by the speech of this woman. 
Or thus, as iron when it is dipped red hot in water hisses and 
roars, and after grows still, when cold: so am I ? 'fhus in Homer: 

ilv vootli -^v^^u 

Dipped in cold water, which roars aloud. 

" But I will go to the streams.] See our notes on Oedipus 
Tyrannus, Act V. Scene I. 

* The gifts of enemies are not gifts.] An oxymoron, or an 
expression spoke with such an affectation of wit, that it seems 
rather to savour of folly, yet it is very elegant. We have many 
buch expressions in sacred as well as prophane writings : as, 
1 Tim. V. 6. " But she that Hveth in pleasure is dead while ske 
" liveth." 

5^ The snowy winters.] As all things on earth have their 
vicissitudes and changes, so, saith Ajax, is it fit that I, who 
awhile ago raged with madness, should return to my right senses I 



ajax, 29 

harvest ; the circle of the sad night to the day, to 
shew its light borne on white ^ coursers ; a gentle 
blast lays to sleep the roaring sea ; and powerful 
sleep, that binds us as with fetters, sets us free again; 
nor always holds us. Why therefore should we not 
know how to be wise ? For me I know, that when 
I was an enemy, I was so far an enemy as to 
become a friend again ; and so far I would help my 
friend, as one who will not be so always ; for the 
port of friendship is with many men unfaithful ; but 
herein it will be well. Do thou go in, Tecmessa, 
and pray to the gods happily to accomplish what 
my heart desires, and you, O companions, herein 
honour me, and signify to Teucrus when he comes, 
to take care of us, and be kind to you likewise ; 
but I go where it is fit I go, and, you, do what I 
say, and soon you shall know that though now I am 
unhappy, yet am I secure from all evils. 



By the same argument Horace consoles his friend Valgius, lib. 2. 
ode .9. 

Non semper imhres Nubibus hispidos 
Manant in Agros ; aut mare Caspium 
Vexant incequales procellce 
Usque, &^c. 

* Borne on white coursers.^ Gr. rr, j^EvytoTruXu ytjAi^a, this epithet 
is given to the day, because, saith the Scholiast on this place, the 
sun which ushereth in the day is said to ride in a chariot drawn 
by two horses, whereof one is called Lampon, and the other 
Phaethon. But he tells us in another place that Phaethon is the 
Sun himself, or the son of the Sun : which is confirmed by the 
testimonies of Ovid, Met. 2. and Homer, Odyss. 11. 320. the 
latter of which hath the words, 'HeX»o? (poti^uv. The poets gene- 
rally assign him four horses. Namely, Pyrois from -crt;^, igniSy 
fire ; Eous, from ^«?, Aurora, the morning ; .Ethon, from aE'Ow, 
iiro : Phlegon, from ^^sfu, in/lammo. 



30 AJAX. 

ACT III. SCENE II. 

Chorus. 

Strophe. 

Clio. ^ He is overcome with love : I am overjoyed. 
^ O Pan, conversant near the seas, come from the 
precipices of the snowy Cyllenian rocks, leader of 
dances, as thy divinity hath taught us dances in 
Nyssa and in Cnossus, now is it time for me to lead 
up such dances. O Dehan, King Apollo, who 
passest over the Icarian sea, mayest thou ever shew 
such favour and benevolence to me. 

Antistrophe I. 

For warlike Ajax hath banished cruel sadness 
from our eyes. O Jove, now the clear and bright 
day is at hand wherein we may go to the Grecian 
ships. For Ajax, forgetting his griefs, hath per- 
formed lawful sacrifices to the gods, worshipping 
them with the greatest submission. Great Time 
destroys and consumes all things. There is nothing 
that can be mentioned which we may not hope for ; 

* He is overcome with love.] It was necessary here that Ajax 
should have some time to retire to a convenient place to effect his 
purpose before the messenger came with orders from Teucrus, that 
he should be kept in ; otherwise Ajax might have been met by the 
messenger. And that time the poet supposes to be spent in the 
song of the Chorus for his happy change. 

^ O Pan, conversant near the seas,] They invocate Pan here 
as being the president of Choruses, and the reasons given by the 
Scholiast why he is called a^t^AaynlE, or sea-wanderer, are, because 
he assisted the Atjienians in a sea-fight ; or, because he took 
Typhon in a net ; or, because he is worshipped on the tops of 
mountains near the sea; or, because fishermen worship him as 
their God ; or, because he loves noise in choruses, hence 
oiXiTrXccynre, as a.xi'^^ojAB, because the sea makes a noise; or, 
lastly, because he is the overseer of flocks near the sea. But 
whether any of these reasons, or which of them, resolves the 
question, I will leave it to the judgment of the learned. 



A J as;. .31 

pe 

gives place to love. 



for beyond all hope Ajax is no more malicious 
against the Atridas ; but all strife is vanished and 



ACT IV. SCENE I. 

Messencrer, Chorus. 

Mes. My friends, this lirst I will declare to you, 
Teucrus is just arrived from the Mysian hills ; and 
as he comes through the middle of ihe camp, all 
the Argives, with one voice, reproach him. For, 
knowing him as he passed along, they surrounded 
him, and then from every side reviled him ; and 
there was none who called him not the brother of 
the madman, and conspirator against the army, so 
that he scarce avoided being stoned to death; it 
came even to this, that with their hands their swords 
were drawn from their sheaths. At last contention 
ceased by the intercession of the seniors, when it 
was at its greatest height. But where is Ajax, that 
I may tell him what I have to say ? For it is but 
just that we discover all the matter to our superiors. 

Cho. He is not within, but is just now gone out, 
having undertaken a new enterprise ; his manners 
too are changed. 

Mes. Alas ! alas ! either he was too slow in send- 
ing me on this journey, or I too slowly came. 

Cho. What advantage hath been intercepted. 

Mes. Teucrus said, that this man should be kept 
within the tent, nor suffered to go out until he came. 

Cho. But he is gone out, and returned to a better 
mind, to reconcile himself to the angry gods. 

Mes. These words are full of folly, if Calchas 
wisely prophesied. 

Cho. What hath he prophesied concerning this 
affair! 



32 AJAX. 

Mes. So much I know, as now I shall speak, for 
I was witness to it. From the council and the 
royal circle, where the Atridae sat, Calchas rose up 
alone, and kindly putting his hand in Teucrus's, 
spoke to this purpose : " See that, with all your art, 
" you endeavour to shut up Ajax for this present 
*' day in his tent, if ever hereafter you would see 
** him alive; for this day alone the anger of the 
'* goddess Minerva pursues him. And farther add- 
" ed, proud men and mighty bodies fall by the 
" grievous punishment of the gOds, when, being 
** born like other men, they think not like them." 
But he, when he came from home, shewed himself 
foolish, when his father spoke well, and said : son, 
overcome in war, but always with God. But he 
haughtily and foolishly answered, father, even the 
worthless person may obtain the victory with the 
assistance of the gods, but I without them hope to 
attract to myself that glory ; such a proud speech 
he uttered. Then a second time, when divine 
Minerva exhorting him, said, that he should turn 
his bloody hand against the enemies : then he re- 
plied a temble and unutterable speech, queen, stand 
by other Grecians, the fight will never break out 
near my post. By such speech he gained the impla- 
cable anger of the goddess, not thinking as a man ; 
but, if this day he is in being, soon, through God, we 
may be his preservers. Such things the prophet 
said. But Teucrus immediately sent me to you, 
from the palace, to bear to you this command, to 
guard him ; but if we are deprived of him, he is no 
more, if Calchas be wise. 

Cho, O wretched Tecmessa, unfortunate lady ! 
Come out and behold this man, and hear what 
words he speaks. Alas I it is to be feared that all 
our joys are fled. 



. 



AJAX. 33 

ACT IV. SCENE II. 

Messenger^ Chorus, Tecmessa with her Child. 

Tec, Why do you again raise me, a wretch, who 
but now rested from mighty woes ? 

Cho. Behold this man, who comes bringing to us 
an account of the action of Ajax, which I lament. 

Tec. Alas me ! What sayest thou man ? 

Mes. As to you I know not ; but as to Ajax, if 
he be gone out, I distrust. 

Tec. He is indeed gone out, which makes me 
grieve. What sayest thou ? 

Mes. Teucrus sent word to shut him up in the 
tent, nor suffer him to go out alone. 

Tec. Where is Teucrus, and why doth he say so ? 

Mes. He is hard by, and thinks the exit of Ajax 
fatal. 

Tec. Woe is me, a wretch ; from whom learnt he 
that ? 

Mes. From a prophet taught of God, that this 
day brings him life or death. 

Tec. O me ! my friends, assist in this my neces- 
sity. Let some hasten for Teucrus to come with 
speed; let some go to the western, others to the 
eastern, tops of the hills, and search the sad exit 
of Ajax ; for by him I find I am deceived, and 
cast out of his former grace. O me, my child ! 
What shall I do ? It is no time to sit, but I will go 
wheresoever I can : we will go, we will hasten ; this 
juncture is not for sitting, while we would save a 
man who hastens to die. 

Cho, "" I am prepared to go, and I ^vill shew it not 

* I am prepared to g-o.] While the Chorus^ and others are 
gone in quest of Ajax, the scene changes to an open place, where 
the poet introduces Ajax making a very moving speech before his 
death, and then falling upon his sword, in the presence of the 

D 



34 AJAX. 

in word alone, but swiftness shall follow both of 
feet and action. 

[Scene changes to a forest, where Ajax is alone, 

his sword fixed in the earth, with the point 

upwards.^ 
Aj. The murdering sword stands ^ most sharp for 
slaughter, if I have time to reason thus, the gift of 
Hector, the most hated to me of all the Phrygians, 
and most odious to behold. It is fixed in that hostile 
land of Troy, newly sharpened with an iron-eating 
whetstone ; preparing well I have fixed it, the most 
acceptable to me, by which with speed I die. And 
thus we are prepared. First of all, then, O Jupiter, 
assist me ; 1 shall not desire to receive a great gift ; 
send to me some messenger, to bear the sad report 
to Teucnis, that he may take me first away, fallen 
on my bloody sword ; lest, first seen by the enemies, 
I be cast forth to the dogs, and to the birds a prey. 
This, O Jupiter ! I commit to thy care ; and I call 
likewise Mercury, the conductor of infernal spirits, 
with a gentle and swift course to bear me to the 
shades below, ^ when I have slain myself vdth this 
sword. And I call as my assistants those eternal 
virgins, ever seeing all the afl[lictions incident to men, 

spectators. This is contrary to what ^Eschylus before had done 
in treating upon this subject and to Horace's rule. 

Non tamen intus 

Digna geri promes in scenam, S^c. 

Yet Hedeline, in his Praxi Theatrica, strenuously defends hiin 
for this conduct. 

•* Most sharp for slaughter.] Gr. To/xiyTaro?. 

'^ When I have slain myself.] Gr. riAgyfav ^lupp^^uslcc. Divided 
my side. It was said that Ajax was by Hercules covered with a 
lion's skin every where but under his arm-pits. Wherefore, 
^schylus, speaking of him, says, that his sword bent and could 
not pierce his body, until some goddess, being present, shewed 
him in which side he should pierce himself. Wherefore, Sopho- 
cles would not contradict his senior, but says he pierced his side, 
but mentions not which side. ' ' ' 



A J AX. 35 

the venerable furies, quick-footed, to come and re- 
venge the sufferings of the dead ; them I call to know 
how miserably I perished by the Atridae, and may 
they destroy likewise those vile pernicious wretches ; 
as they see me fall self-murdered, so may they fall 
murdered by their most beloved children. Go, svnft- 
revenging furies, fall on, nor spare the whole army. 
And thou, O sun ! who drivest thy chariot through 
high heaven, when thou seest my father's country, 
pulling back thy golden rein, relate my misfortunes 
and my death to my old father, and my miserable 
mother, who, unhappy, when she hears this report, 
will fill the city vdth her cries. But it is to no pur- 
pose vainly to mourn these evils, but this business 
must be enterprized. O death, death ! come and 
behold me, with thee alone I will talk ; and thou, 

light of this bright day ; and thou, O sun, thou 
charioteer ! I call thee last and no more ; O sacred 
soil of my own country of Salamis ! O seat in my 
palace, celebrated Athens, and youths brought up 
with me, fountains and rivers, and the Trojan land, 

1 call ; farewell, my parents, this is the last word 
Ajax saith to you ! the rest I will speak among the 
shades below. 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 

First SemicJiorus. 
Sent, Toil still increaseth toil ! whither, O whither, 
have I not gone ? No place can tell. Alas ! but, 
lo, I hear some noise ; 'tis from the fellow-sailors of 
our ships. 



ACT IV. SCENE IV. 

First SemicJiorus, Second Semichorus, 
2(f Sem. What news now ? 

D 2 



36 AJAX. 

1st Sem. I have traced the whole western side of 
the fleet. 

2d Sem. Hast thou, indeed ? 

1st Sem. Abundance of labour, nought else ap- 
pears. 

2d Sem. Nor towards the sun's rising, directing 
his way, doth he any where appear to me. 

1st Sem. Who is there, of the laborious fishermen, 
sleepless, intent upon their prey, or who of the gods 
inhabiting Olympus, or the rivers which flow into 
the Bosphorean sea, knows, and, if he hath seen, 
can tell of cruel-hearted Ajax, where he wanders ? 
It is a miserable thing for me, in a succession of 
long labours, neither by running to approach him, 
nor, though weak with search, find where he is. 



ACT IV. SCENE V. 

Tecmessa, Chorus. 

Tec. Woe is me ! whose voice is that, which, 
sounding from the forest, is heard as near us ? ah, 
me, a wretch ! 

Cho. 1 see the miserable captive bride, Tecmessa, 
overwhelmed with grief 

Tec. It is past ; I am undone, I am destroyed ! 
O, friends ! 

Cho. What is the matter ? 

Tec. Ajax now is newly slain, the sword is 
sheathed^within his body. 

Cho. Woe to my coming ! Woe is me, O king ! 
Thou hast slain me thy fellow sailor. O me a 
wretch, and thou unhappy woman ! 

Tec. Since it is so, it is time to lament. 

Cho. With whose hand did the wretch do it ? 

Tec. By himself he fell, it is plain ; for in the 
earth the sword fixed argues it. 



AJAX. 37 

Cho, Woe is me, my miseries ! Thou, how great 
a man, art slain, unguarded by thy friends ; I, 
fooHsh, in every thing deceived, in all things igno- 
rant, neglected : v\^here, where lies stubborn un- 
happy Ajax ? 

Tec. He is not to be seen, but I will cover him 
all over with a folded garment ; since none, though 
a friend, can bear to see him, blowing upwards at 
the nose, and from the dismal wound, black blood, 
by his own slaughter. O me! What shall I do? 
Who of thy friends will lift thee up, where is 
Teucrus ? How seasonable were it, if he came to 
take away his fallen brother? O unfortunate Ajax ! 
How great a man thou art, and what a sad state 
thou art in ; how worthy art thou even of enemies 
to be lamented ? 

Cho. O wretched man ! Too plainly, alas ! your 
loss of reason discovered that you would at last 
plunge both yourself and us into these endless 
woes ; for, in the furious tempest of your soul, how 
would you, with many bitter cries and groans, 
complain to me, night and day, of the injiuies of 
the Atridae ? But that time was the beginning of 
mischief, when there was a violent dispute about 
the arms of Achilles. 

Tec. Woe is me! 

Cho. The generous sorrow wounds my heart. 

Tec. Ah, me ! 

Cho. I wonder not why you lament, and again 
repeat the sounds of woe, lately deprived of such a 
friend. 

Tec. These things but seem so to thee, but I per- 
ceive them strongly. 

Cho. I agree with thee. 

Tec. Ah me, my son ! unto what yoke of servi- 
tude must we be brought ? What tutors must we 
have ? 



38 , AJAX. 

Cho. Woe is me ! Thou hast mentioned an ^ im- 
speakable deed of the two cruel Atridse, in that 
mourning, but may God avert it. 

Tec. It is through the gods that we are in such 
a state. ^ 

Cho. Sad and deplorable misery they have caused, 
and such a mischief the goddess, daughter of Jove, 
hath been the cause of for Ulysses's sake ; and sure- 
ly the daring man doth injure with a traiterous 
heart, and with much laughter ridicules the sad 
misfortune of Ajax; alas! alas! together with the 
two chiefs, the Atridae, likewise hearing this news. 

Tec. Though they laugh and rejoice at his evils, 
it is likely, though they desire him not -alive, they 
will lament him in necessity of battle. For men of 
base minds, having in their hands a good, know it 
not before they have thrown it away. His death 
was more grievous to me than pleasant and delight- 
ful to them ; for, what he desired to obtain, he hath 
obtained, the death he longed for. What, therefore, 
can they laugh at in him ? He died for the gods, 
not for them. 

Cho. Let Ulysses therefore vainly insult him, 
Ajax is no more for them ; but for me he is gone, 
leaving me nought but grief and sorrow. 

Tec. Woe is me ! 

Cho. Hold thy peace, I think I hear the voice of 
Teucrus, loudly lamenting, with a cry agreeable to 
the present misfortune. 



^ Unspeakable deed.] Gr. avo(,v^ov, the same with u}p-^ov, and 
both signify anything mysterious, and which cannot be uttered y 
and so it is understood by St. Paul, 2 Cor. ch. xii. v. 4; or, 
secondly, an ominous word ; or, thirdly, anything foul or dis- 
honourable, as fornication and uncleanness, and in this sense it is 
taken here. 



AJAX. 39 

ACT IV. SCENE YI. 

Teucriis, Chorus, Tecmessa, 

Teu, most beloved brother Ajax, hast thou 
gained thy desired death, as fame reports ? 

Cho. The man hath perished, Teucriis, be assured 
of that. 
. Teu, Woe is me, my sad fortune. 

Cho. Since our case is thus. 

Teu. Ah, me ! 

Cho. It is time for us to mourn. 

Teu. O sad affliction ! 

Cho. Too great, indeed, Teucrus. 

Teu. Alas ! where is his son ? In what part of 
the Trojan land is he? 

Cho. He is alone in the tent, Teucrus. 

Teu. Wilt thou not lead him hither with all speed, 
lest any of the enemies snatch him away, as the 
whelp of an absent lioness ; go, hasten, labour ; 
for all love to insult the dead. 

Cho. And while he yet lived, Teucrus, the man 
desired that thou shouldest take care of him, as 
thou dost. 

Teu. O the most sad of all the spectacles to 
me that ever I saw with my eyes ! O most afflicting 
of all journeys to my very soul, which now I came, 

most loved Ajax, when I heard thy sad fate, as 

1 was in chase of the enemies, and searched out 
their retreats ; for the report of thy death, as by 
some god was quickly spread through all the Grecian 
army, which I, wreched, hearing, though absent 
far lamented. But now, seeing the thing, I am 
undone. Woe is me ! Go, uncover him, that I may 
see the whole mischief; O miserable spectacle ! 
O desperate audacity ! What grief thou dying hast 
left me ! [They uncover the body of Ajax.] Whither 
is it possible for me to go ? To whom ? Since I 



40 AJAX. 

assisted thee not in these afflictions. Will Telamon, 
thine and my father, receive me with a kind coun- 
tenance and favourable, coming w^ithout thee? 
How ? He to whom, even being fortunate, nothing 
is pleasant so as to make him laugh. He, what 
will he conceal ? What will he not say ? That I a 
bastard, begot of a captive taken in war, betrayed 
thee by fearfulness and cowardice; thee, O most 
loving Ajax ! or by fraud, that thou dying, I might 
enjoy thy wealth, being dead, and throne. Such 
things the angry man, morose with age, will say, 
though without just cause moved to strife : in the 
end, an exile, 1 shall be banished the land, to be a 
slave instead of a free man, through his reproaches. 
This is my case at home. But at Troy I have many 
enemies, and few friends. All these things will be- 
fall me, since thou art dead. Woe is me! What 
shall I do ? How shall I take thee from this cruel 
sword ? O wretch ! by what murder hast thou ex- 
pired ? Thou, therefore, sawest that in time. Hector 
dead would kill thee. See by the gods the fortune 
of two men, Hector, with the same belt that was 
bestowed on him by Ajax, was dragged after the 
chariot of Achilles, until he breathed out his soul ; 
Ajax, having his gift, by that suffered a fatal death. 
Did not a fury make this sword ; and the belt, Pluto, 
that cruel workman ? for I dare say the gods con- 
trive these and such things always for men. But to 
whose opinion these thoughts do not agree, let him 
maintain his own, but I approve these. 

Cho, Proceed not too far, but consider how thou 
mayest repose this man in his tomb, and what thou 
suddenly shalt say ; for I see an enemy, and per- 
haps laughing at our ills, say what a wdcked man 
might say. 

Ten. Who is he whom thou seest coming from the 
army ? 

Cho, Menelaus, for whom we undertook this voyage. 



AJAX. 41 

Tea. I see him, he is not hard to be known, tor 
he is near. 



ACT VI. SCENE VII. 
Menelaus, Teucrus, Choi us. 

Men. Thou, I ^ bid thee not prepare that body 
for sepulture, but suffer it to Ue as it doth. 

Teu. Why hast thou given out that pernicious 
decree ? 

Men. It pleaseth me and him who commands 
the army. 

Teu. But wilt thou not say what reason thou 
canst give ? 

Men. Because we hoped we brought him from 
home a fiiend and a confederate to the Grecians ; 
but I find him more an enemy than the Trojans ; 
who designing the slaughter of the whole army, a 
night-wanderer, directed his arms against us, that 
he might kill us ; and unless some god had over- 
thrown his purpose, we had had the same fortune 



s I bid thee not prepare that body for sepulture.] It was an 
usual thing with the ancient Grecian heroes to deny their enemies 
burial after death ; so Achilles punished Hector, and in the 
Antigone Creon decreed that the body of Polynices should lie ex- 
posed a prey to the dogs and fowls of the air. And, ordinarily, 
several persons, who, by their actions while alive, or the aggra- 
vating circumstances of their death, were thought unworthy of 
any funeral, were so exposed, as those who betrayed or conspired 
against their country, villains guilty of sacrilege, tyrants, persons 
killed with lightning, some offenders who suffered capital punish- 
ment, such as were guilty of self-murder, &c. So that, upon 
several accounts, Ajax seems to have forfeited his right to burial. 
For which reason, Aristotle tells us. Ethic. Nicom. lib. v. cap. 2, 
that his body was not reduced to ashes, according to the usual 
custom, but privately interred, it having been declared by Calchas 
to be a profanation of the holy element to consume in it the 
bodies of such as had occasioned their own death. 



42 AJAX. 

which hath befallen him, and suffered an unhappy 
fate, and he had lived. But now the god hath 
changed his intended mischief, and made him fall 
on flocks and herds. Wherefore there is no man 
shall have power to bury his body in a tomb ; but, 
cast out on the yellow sand, he shall be food for 
the sea-birds ; wherefore thou needest not to exert 
thy fierce rage, for, if we could not overcome him 
while he lived, we will entirely command him dead, 
though thou wilt the contrary ; for living, he never 
would listen to my commands : and that is the part 
of an ill man, while he is a subject, not to listen 
to those who are placed over him ; for in no city 
the laws can well prevail where fear is wanting ; 
nor can an army be well governed which hath nei- 
ther fear nor awe. But it becomes a man, though 
he be gTeat in body, to think that he may fall through 
even a small evil ; but who hath fear and likevdse 
reverence, know that man hath safety in himself. 
But when injuries prevail, and every one doth what 
he will, then think this city will fall at last from 
happiness to the lowest degree of misery; there- 
fore, let there be seasonable awe, and let us not 
think, if we do what we please, that we shall not 
suffer again what may displease us ; these mutually 
succeed each other. Before he was a flagrant in- 
jurer, but now I take my turn to triumph. And 
I precaution thee not to bury him, lest thou fall tliy 
self into the grave. 

Cho. Menelaus, take care, lest while you deliver 
those grave maxims you become injurious to the 
dead. 

Teu. I should not wonder at a man who is mean 
in pedigree, if he offends, since they who seem to 
be born gentlemen offend so in their words. Go, 
speak again from the beginning, will you not say 
that you brought this man a confederate to the Gre- 
cians ? Did not he sail hither as governor of him- 



AJAX. 43 

self? How do you govern him ? How is it lawful 
for you to rule a people whom he brought from 
home ? You came hither a Spartan governor, not 
to govern us, nor can it be that you have more right 
to govern him than he to govern you. You sailed 
hither a prince, indeed, though not governor of all, 
so as ever to rule Ajax. Therefore, govern those 
who are your subjects, and instruct them with those 
grave speeches ; but I will lay him in his sepulchre, 
as it is just I should, though you say the contrary, 
or any other commander, not fearing your presence ; 
for he fought not for the sake of your wife, as those 
hired for war, ^but for the oath's sake by which he was 
sworn, not for you, for he thought none worthy for 
whom to come hither. Wherefore, bring with you 
several heralds and the army to prevent me ; for all 
your noise I will not be moved from my purpose, 
how great soever thou art. 

Men. I like not such a tongue in adversity. 

Teu. Harsh things, though they be most just, 
are grating. 

Men, This archer seems not to think meanly of 
himself. 

Teu. It is not a mean art I have learned. 

WIen. Greatly wouldest thou boast if you bore a 
shield. 

Teu. 'Even light armed I am a sufficient match 
for thee, when thou art better armed. 

^ For the oath's sake.'] When all the princes were gathered 
together to court Tyndarus's daughter, he'made them all swear to 
fight for him who married her, if any should offer to take her 
away by force. 

* Even light-armed I am a sufficient match for thee.] This 
kind of ribaldry is beneath the dignity of tragedy, for it is mere- 
ly added by the poet to prolong the scene, while he loseth the 
passion proper to it. How to|ot»3? comes to be a reproachful 
name will be evident from hence. Among the different soldiers 
of which the Grecian armies were composed, the \I/t%o4 or ro^oran 
seem to have been but of inferior rank, for their business was 



44 AJAX. 

Men. Your tongue shews that your anger is great. 

Teu, It is lawful greatly to think with justice. 

Men. Is it just that he fare well who hath killed me ? 

Teu. Killed you ! a grievous thing you have 
spoke, though you are dead you live. 

Men. It was God preserved me ; as to him I am 
dead. 

Teu. Do not, therefore, dishonour the gods, by 
whom you are preserved. 

Men. Do I, therefore, dishonour the laws of the 
gods ? 

Teu. You do, if you permit not the burial of the 
dead. 

Men. Not of those who are my enemies ; that is 
but just. 



only to sling stones, and shoot arrows at their enemies, thereby 
to annoy them at a distance, but were unfit for close battle, but 
those who fought with shields and spears were of much higher 
esteem, and generally protected the former in the fight. For this 
reason, Menelaus called Teucrus, a little before, tauntingly, 
To|oT»)?, an archer. This is apparent as from this place, so from 
the testimony of Homer, who tells us that Teucrus retired behind 
the shield of Ajax for protection. II. 0. v. 266. 

'EvO' ''Ata? jotEV v^t^i(pi^u crunoq, uvru^ oy »}^&)f 

'AvIo.^ awTK *<y*'j 'CaV; uq v'mo [jii^i^oc, ovo'kiv 
'Ek ''Atav9 * &i fjitv accKii y.^v'rfloca-y.i (pottivu. 

Teucer, the ninth from these, at length appear'd. 
And all his bows for certain death's prepared ; 
Behind the shield of Ajax close he stood. 
Which, whensoe'er the warlike chief remov'd, 
Around on all he casts his angry eyes. 
Threatening destruction to his enemies ; 
Whom when his arrows wounded had, or slain. 
Back he betook him to his shield again. 
So timorous boys, approaching ills to shun. 
With eager haste to careful mothers run. 

Mr. Hutchin. 



AJAX. 45 

Ten, Was ever Ajax your enemy? 

Men, He hated his hater, be assured of that. 

Teu. You was his deceitful and corrupt judge. 

Men. That matter was over-ruled by the judges, 
and not me. 

Teu, So, privately, you may be the cause of 
many mischiefs. 

Men. This talk shall turn to your sorrow. 

Teu. No more, perhaps, than we shall be cause 
of your sorrow. 

Men. One thing I tell you, this man shall not be 
buried. 

Teu, I tell you the contrary, that he shall be buried. 

Men, I have once seen a man bold in speech, 
urging the sailors to sail in winter, whose voice you 
would not hear when he was oppressed in the sad 
tempest, but hid under his clothes, lay to be tram- 
pled on by every sailor that would. So a storm, 
rising from a small cloud, would soon suppress you 
and your proud speech and loud clamour. 

Teu, And I have seen a man, with folly fraught, 
who insulted his neighbour in adversity ; and one 
seeing him, like me, and in anger like, said this : 
O, man, do not abuse the dead, if thou dost, know 
thou wilt suffer for it. So another, who was pre- 
sent, admonished the wretch: I see him, and I 
think he is no other than you ; have I not well ex- 
plained this saying ? 

Men, I go hence, for it were a vile thing to be 
heard to contend with words, with one whom we 
may restrain by force. 



ACT IV. SCENE VIII. 

Teucnis, Chorum, 

Teu, Be gone, and it is a most vile thing for me 
to hear a vain man talk base words. 



46 AJAX. 

Cho. There will be a trial of great strife, but 
hasten Teucrus, as quick as thou canst hasten, and 
prepare a hollow grave, where he may have a spa- 
cious monument among men for ever famed. 



ACT IV. SCENE IX. 

Teucrus, Chorus , Tecmessa, Eui^ysaces. 

Teu. And in due season his son and wife are 
present, to prepare a tomb for this dead unhappy 
man. O child, come hither, stand near, and as a 
suppliant touch thy father who begat thee, and kneel 
down on your knees, holding in your hands my hair, 
your mother's, and your own, ''a treasure for sup- 
plication, but if any one of the army should put you 
away by force from this dead body, unburied and 
neglected let him lie on the ground, quite from the 
root with his whole race extirpated, as this hair 
which I now cut is held ; keep him, let none move 
you, but down on your knees and hold him. And 
you \to the C/iori«5] approach not as weak women 
instead of men, but assist until I go and take care 
for a sepulchre, though none allow it. 

[Here Tecmessa and Eurysaces kneel by the body. 



ACT IV. SCENE X. 

"^ Chorus, SfC. 

Strophe I. 
When will the number .of those long years have 
an end ; those years which I consume in nought but 
the continual toils of war in this vile Trojan land. 

^ Treasure for supplication J] This IkI-^^io^ ^»37au^&?, or suppli- 
cating treasure, which consisted of locks of hair, was of the same 
use as in Oedipus the ixlrj^ioi, kT^u^qi, namely, to add a greater 
solemnity to the ceremonies, and gain the favour of the gods to 
which they made supplications. 



AJAX. 47 

Antistrophe I. 

I wish he had first vanished into air, or descended 
to the grave, the common receptacle of all who 
shewed the Grecians the use of arms, the sad cause 
of endless woes. Fatal his art has been to all man- 
kind. 

Strophe II. 

He, unhappy wretch, neither allowed me to par- 
take of ^ the delights of crowns or cups, nor the 
sweet sound of music, nor to pass my time in the 
nightly delights of love : but robbed me of love, and 
thus I lie neglected, my hoary hairs being drenched 
in the cold dews, the remembrances of Troy. 

Antistrophe II. 

Before martial Ajax was my defence against 
nightly fear and arms, now he is oppressed vdth 
dismal fate; what pleasure shall I ever hereafter 
have? I wish I were where the imperious surge 
dashes against the woody promontory which over- 
looks the sea, beneath the high lands of Sunium, 
where we might salute sacred Athens. 



ACT V. SCENE I. 

Teucrus, Chorus, Tecmessa, Eurysaces. 

Ten. Seeing the general Agamemnon furiously ap- 
proaching, he seemed to me as if his angry looks 

* The delights of crowns,^ It was a custom with the ancients 
as well to wear crowns as to have the choicest of music in their 
banquets : these crowns consisted of the choicest of flowers arti- 
ficially woven together. Hence Hor. lib. i. od. 38. 

Displicent nexoi Philyra CoromB. 
See Dacier's notes upon that ode. Here the Poet after many 
turns of raillery in the former scene, more fit for comedy than 
tragedy, at last returns to himself. Yet the Scholiast saith, that 
\o talk of love as affairs here stand is unseasonable. 



48 AJAX. 

portended the reproachful speeches which his tongue 
will utter. 



ACT V. SCENE II. 

Agamemnon, Teucrus, Chorus, Tecmessa, Eurysaces, 

Agam, They tell me that thou hast freely dared 
to bawl out bitter expressions against us ; thou, I 
say, " the son of a captive : if thou hadst descended 
of a mother nobly born, highly thou wouldest have 
boasted, and mounted aloft: since thou, though 
nothing thyself, hast sided vnth him who now is no 
more, and swore that we came hither as neither go- 
vernor of the army, or the fleet, or of thyself; but 
Ajax was himself a ruler, as thou say est. Are these 
not sad reproaches to be heard of slaves ? Of whom 
hast thou so proudly talked ? Where did he go or 
stand where I did not? Are there no men among 
the Grecians but him ? Think you we have severely 
decreed the armour of Achilles from Ajax? Yet if 
you think we have been partial, will it not at last 
suffice you, being overcome, to submit to what so 
many judges have decreed? But will you always 
maintain the old quarrel against us by public re- 
proaches or secret frauds, though overcome ? Ac- 
cording to such manners no law can subsist, if we 
should repel those who overcome by law, and make 
those first who are last. But such things must be 
prevented. Nor are broad thick men the strongest, 
but those who are wise, overcome every where. 
The o^ with a broad side by a small whip driven 

" The son of a captive.] Here he reproacheth Teucrus with 
his mother, who was daughter of Trojan Laomedon. The Gre- 
cians called all foreigners, especially the Trojans, barbarians. 
Hence Hor. 1. ii. od. 4. 

Barbara postqvam cecidere turmce. 



1 



AJAX. 49 

goes right in the way ; and I see that soon this re- 
medy must be apphed to you, unless you will have 
a little prudence, who daringly reproachest for a 
man who is no more but a shadow, and freely usest 
thy tongue : will you not at last be wise, nor consi- 
der whence you are born? bring hither some free 
man who may speak for you to us, for I understand 
not your speech, nor can I hear that barbarian voice. 

Cho. I wish it were both your minds to be wise, 
for I can commend nothing to you better. 

Teu. Alas ! how soon among men all kindness 
for the dead slips away, and is quite forgotten, since 
this man hath not so much remembrance of thee, 
Ajax, as to repay thy kindness with a small return, 
whom thou many times didst defend with the hazard 
of thy life in battle: but all those things are gone 
and vanished. O thou who hast spoke many and 
useless words, dost thou not remember when, he 
coming alone, set you free, when you had been in- 
closed by batteries, put to flight, and reduced to the 
greatest streights in the fight? When the fire burned 
in the uppermost seats in the ships, when Hector 
leaped the trenches, who was it that dispersed the 
gathering storm ? Was it not he who did it "" who you 
say went in no danger, did he not perform those 
noble acts? And when alone he met Hector alone, 
by choice and uncommanded he opposed him. ° He 
threw not in a false lot, a piece of moist earth, but 
one which should first leap from the crested helmet. 

" Who you say went in no danger.] This is spoke in contra- 
diction to wliat Agamemnon said before, where did he go or 
stand? &c. 

** He threw not in a false lot.] Gr. ^pocTrirnv. Primarily it sig- 
nifies a fugitive or runaway: but here, by a metaphor, it signifies a 
lot, which avoids coming out of the helmet, lest the owner should 
be sent to undertake the combat. The poet alludes to a piece of 
craft which was once used by Cresiphontes, in casting lots for 
Messene with the sons of Aristodemus; the former threw into the 
pitcher a lot made of wet earth, that it might stick to the bottom. 

E 



50 AJAX. 

This he did, and I was by, I that slave bom of a 
barbarian mother ! thou wretch, to what didst thou 
refer when thou saidst so ? p Know you not who was 
your father's father, old Pelops, a barbarian and 
Phrygian, and Atreus who begat you, a most impious 
man, who laid before his brother a supper of his 
own children; and you was of a Cretan mother, 
with whom your father taking an adulterer, delivered 
her a prey to dumb fishes ; and being such a one 
dost thou reproach me with my descent who am 
born of my father Telamon? Who performing the 
greatest deeds in the army obtained my mother, who 
was of the royal race of Laomedon, a select gift the 
son of Alcmena gave him: and since I am well de- 
scended of two noble parents, shall I shame those 
of near kin to me, whom thou now afflicted in such 
a misfortune, dost cast away unburied, nor art 
ashamed to speak it: therefore assure yourself of 
this, if you cast him away, you shall cast us "^ all 
three away : since it is plainly better for me to die 
fighting for him than for your wdfe and brother. 

P Know you not who was your father's father. 1 Teucer having 
been reproached by Agamemnon for his low pedigree, like Achilles, 
returns the reproach, and rehearses Agamemnon's, telling him 
that his grandfather was a barbarian, his father a vile murderer, 
and his mother a foreigner and an adultress : whom, having been 
vitiated by a servant, his father gave to a sailor with a command 
to throw her into the sea; but he disobeyed that command. Her 
story is in the Cretan women of Euripides. 

^ All three away.] The Scholiasts differ in their opinions what 
three are here meant by Teucer; whether himself, Agamemnon, 
and Menelaus; or himself, Ajax, and Agamemnon; or lastly, 
himself, Tecmessa, and Eurysaces. The old Scholiast favours 
the first opinion ; but it is not possible to conceive that Teucer 
should be so vain as to think himself able to oppose both the 
Atridae together. Triclinus inclines to the second, as if Teucer 
had said, 1 will kill you first though I die in his defence, &c. But 
as Teucer was here endeavouring to move Agamemnon to pity, it 
is probable he would endeavour it by that miserable spectacle of 
Eurysaces and Tecmessa, sitting in a suppliant manner before the 
corpse, as they had been desired to do by Teucer, 



AJAX. 51 

Wherefore look to it, it no less concerns you than 
me ; for, if you injure me in aught, you will wish 
some time you had been more fearful than bold to me. 



ACT V. SCENE III. 

Chorus, Ulysses, Agamemnon, Teucnis, Tecmessa, 
Eurysaces. 

Clio. O king Ulysses, you are come in season, if 
you are come not to increase, but appease this strife. 

Ulys. What is the matter, ye princes, for from far 
I heard the voice of the Atridae concerning this 
noble carcase. 

Agam, Is it fit we should bear most vile speeches 
from this man ? 

Ulys. What speeches? for I pardon that man 
who hearing reproaches returns them again. 

Agam. He heard some reproaches, for he acted 
dishonourably towards me. 

Ulys. What did he do to you so as to merit that 
affront ? 

Agam. He says he will not suffer this dead car- 
case to be without burial. 

Ulys. May a friend speak the truth, and yet con- 
tinue in his former friendship. 

Agam. Speak, for I were unwise if I allow it not, 
since I esteem you the greatest friend of all the 
Grecians. 

Ulys. Hear me now ; nor, by the gods, suffer this 
man to be cast out unpitied ; let not violence by any 
means overcome you to hate him so much as to 
trample upon justice: for this man was once to me 
the greatest enemy in the army, since the time I 
overcame in the trial about the arms of Achilles : 
but, though he is so great an enemy to me, I would 
not dishonour him so as to deny, that I have proved 

E 2 



52 AJAX. 

him the greatest man of all the Grecians who came 
from Troy, except Achilles. Wherefore it is not 
just that he should be dishonoured of you ; for it is 
not him but the divine laws you violate : it is not just 
to injure a great man, though he be dead, not al- 
though you hate him. 

Agam. Do you contend with me, Ulysses, about 
him? 

Ulys. I hated him while it was just to hate. 

Agam. And even dead is it not just that you in- 
sult him ? 

Ulys. O Agamemnon, glory not in advantages 
not fairly got. 

Agam. "^ It is not easy for a king to be religious. 

Ulys. But it is a good saying, ' honour is due to 
friends. 

Agam,. It becomes a good man to obey those in 
power. 

Ulys. Peace, then you overcome when by yoiu- 
friends you are prevailed upon. 

Agam. Remember to what man thou grantest this 
favour. 

Ulys. This my enemy was yet a great man. 

Agam. What dost thou do, thus to respect thy 
dead enemy? 

Ulys. With me compassion overcomes enmity. 

Agam. Such are a stupid kind of men. 

Ulys. Many there be, now friends, who may here- 
after turn enemies. 

^ It is not easy for a king, 4'^.] Because often exigencies of 
state and maxims of policy require them to act unjustly for the 
public good : yet this so open a confession hardly becomes Aga- 
memnon himself or any prince to make in such a case. 

^ Honour is due to friends.] Here Ulysses argues against 
Agamemnon by a moral precept, as if he should say, every man 
ought to listen to his friend when he counsels well, therefore you 
ought to listen to me: to whom Agamemnon answers by another, 
viz. that good men ought to obey their prince, so ought you to 
obey me, and not give your advice. 



I 



AJAX. 0.3 

Agam. Dost thou therefore like to have such 
friends r 

Ulys. I Uke not a stubborn disposition. 

Agam. Thou makest us now appear timorous. 

Ulys. No, but rather just before all the Grecians. 

Agam. Dost thou therefore advise me to suffer 
this dead body to be buried ? 

Ulys. I do, and I myself shall come to this. 

Agam. It is always thus, every man labours for 
himself. 

Ulys. For whom should I rather labour than for 
myself. 

Agam. This shall be called thy deed, not mine. 

Ulys. According as you act, you shall every 
where be reckoned good or bad. 

Agam. But be assured of that, that I could grant 
thee a greater favour than this ; but he shall, both in 
life and death, most hated be to me : but you may 
do as you please. 



ACT V. SCENE THE LAST. 
Chorus, Ulysses, Teucrus, Tecmessa, Eurysaces. 

Teu. Whosoever, Ulysses, denies that you are 
a wise man is himself unwise. 

Ulys. Now, Teucrus, from this time forward I 
declare to you, that as much as he was before my 
enemy, I am now his friend, and desire to help to 
bury this dead body, to labour with you, and leave 
nothing unperformed which men OAve to the greatest 
heroes. 

Teu. Excellent Ulysses, in every thing I com- 
mend thee, thou hast disproved my bad opinion of 
thee : though thou wast to him the greatest enemy 
of all the Grecians, alone thou hast holpen him, nor 
couldest bear that thyself alive shouldest injure hiui 



54 AJAX. 

being dead; as that furious commander and hiis 
brother would have cast him forth reproached, with 
out sepulture. And may father Jove, chief ot 
Olympus, and the avenging furies, and recompen- 
sing vengeance, miserably destroy those villains, as 
they unworthily and with reproach would expose 
this corpse : but thee, O son of old Laertes, I fear to 
suffer to touch this sepulchre, lest I should do what 
might be uneasy to the dead ; in other things assist 
us, if thou wilt : bring any other from the army to 
officiate for thee, I shall not grieve thereat: other 
things I will prepare ; thou hast discharged the duty 
of a good man towards us. 

Ulys. I would have helped, but if it be not ac- 
ceptable to you that I should do it, I go hence com- 
mending your opinion. \_Exit Ulysses. 

Teu, Enough of time is past, some quickly pre- 
pare a deep grave, others lay the tall tripod over the 
fire, to prepare the sacred washings for the dead 
body, and let one troop of soldiers from the tent 
bear his armour, warlike ornaments : and thou, O 
child, as well as thou canst lovingly touch him, and 
raise up his sides with me : for his veins, yet warm, 
send upward his black blood. Let every one pre- 
sent, who calls himself a friend to Ajax, hasten and 
help this brave man, than whom no better lives while 
he survived : this I affirm. 

Cho, ' Even wise men learn many things by expe- 
rience ; but the wisest of men are not able to foresee 
what will happen hereafter. 

' Even wise men learn, Sfc] See the notes on Oedipus 
Tyrannus, Act V. Scene the last. 



THE 



TRAGEDY OF ELECTRA 



23ramati0 ^ev^onu. 



Tutor to Orestes. 

Orestes, Prince of Argos, son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. 

Electra and Chrysothemis, his sisters. 

Pylades, Prince of Phocis, friend to Orestes. 

^GiSTHUS, King of Mycenae, and husband to Clytemnestra. 

Clytemnestra, his queen. 

Chorus, composed of the principal Ladies of Mycenae. 

SCENE^before the Royal Palace at Mycence. 



E L E C T R A. 



The Argument. — The subject of this tragedy is Orestes's^ 
return from Phocis, whither he had been sent an infant by hi» 
sister Electra, from the cruelty of Mgisthus and Clytemnestra, 
and likewise the method, he took to revenge his father's death, by 
theirs who had murdered him. But the poet calls it Electra, for 
the sad complaints which that princess makes for the death of her 
father, her sufferings under the tyrannical government of his 
murderers, the supposed death of her brother, and her excessive 
joy when he is discovered to her. The other two Greek tragedians 
have likewise treated upon this subject, but their tragedies are 
very different. 

This of Sophocles exceeds the other two, yet is it not without 
its faults, but they are such as its beauties may very well atone 
for. The unity of time, place, and action, he well observes; the 
thoughts are noble, and the diction beautiful. The chief fault of 
which the poet is guilty, is in one part of Electra's character, 
whOf though she is represented every where as a princess of an 
heroic and generous disposition, yet such cruelty as she expresseth 
in promoting her mother's death is not at all becoming her sex, 
and the theatre is, or ought to be, an enemy to all kind of cruelty. 
However, Euripides is still more faulty in this kind, for his 
character of her is more cruel than that of Sophocles or Mschylus; 
and, the Choephori of the latter, in which he hath treated on this 
subject, scarce deserved the name of a tragedy : but as this art 
teas not arrived at any great degree of perfection in his time, he 
is excusable. 

The moral of this fable is helped out by the late return of 
Orestes from Phocis, which was twenty years after his departure 
fromArgos; which is, that though the divine justice long defers 
the punishment of the ivicked, yet it will at last overtake them ; 
and that there are no crimes God will punish with more severity 
than murder, adultery, and usurpation. 



ACT I. SCENE I. 

Tutor of Orestes, Orestes, Pylades. 

Tutor. O son of Agamemnon, who formerly led 
the Grecian troops against Troy, hence you may 
descry the dearest prospect to your longing eyes. 
^ Here on the right hand is the ancient city of Argos, 
and the forest of the ^ mad daughter of Inachus : 
there, Orestes, is the Lycian forum '^ of the god of 
day, and there on the left is the famous temple of 

* Here on the right hand is the ancient city of Argos.l The 
Scholiast seems to make Mycenae the same with Argos, but they 
are distinguished by Horace, ode 7. lib. i. Argos was the an- 
cient seat of the kings of the Argives, and was built about the 
time of the patriarch Jacob. 

^ Mad daughter of Riachus.] To is here meant, who, being 
beloved by Jupiter, was by him turned into a cow, that thereby 
she might be safe from the jealousy of Juno. Juno, understand- 
ing this, sent Argos, who had a hundred eyes, to keep her; but 
Jupiter sent his sly son Mercury, who killed Argos and turned 
him into a peacock: at this Juno, enraged, inspired lo with mad- 
ness, whereupon she ran into Egypt, and was there worshipped 
by the name of Isis, and the sea she passed over was from her 
called the Ionian sea. 

'^ Of the god of day.l Gr. t^kokIovh $e5. The various reasons 
assigned why Apollo is so called are his being a shepherd to 
Admetus, and so destroying wolves, wherefore wolves were sacri- 
ficed to him ; or because that animal was sacred to him, as the 
hind to Diana; whence the Argians had wolves stampt on their 
money, as the Athenians had owls : but the most probable reason 
is this; Apollo is the sun, at the appearance of which the ^yxoipo/?, 
or morning dawn, disappears, it being of the same colour with a 
wolf. Therefore 1 translate it the god of day. He had a very 
ancient temple at Argos, which is here called 'Afo^a. At;x£»o?, 
wherein was a lire which was said to have descended from heaven : 
there were also two temples, one in Thebes and another in Athens, 
sacred to the same god, called Avkhx, or yy/Avaj-fa Auxsia 'ATroAAwfo?. 
Dr. Potter tells us, that the Lycean forum, at Argos, was dedica- 
ted to him, in memory of his delivering the Argives from wolves. 



58 ELECTRA. 

Juno : the city at which we are arrived is '^ rich 
Mycenae, and this is the bloody house of Pelops's 
sons. It was from hence I took you from your sis- 
ter's hand, to save you from your father's cruel des- 
tiny. Since then I have with much care brought 
you up, that being amved at this age you might re- 
venge your father s death. Now, therefore, Orestes, 
and you most faithful Pylades, we must seriously 
consult in a short time what is to be done : for now 
the clear light of the sun cheers up the morning 
voices of the birds, and the dark night is vanished 
with the stars. Before any comes out of the palace 
we must join in close debate, since we are arrived at 
a juncture which admits of no delay, but demands 
speedy execution. 

Orest. Thou faithfulest of friends, and best sup- 
porter of my sinking fortunes, who daily shewest 
me some fresh tokens of thy affection and tenderness 
for me! As a generous courser, who, though old, 
loses not his courage in the greatest extremities, but 
kindles into his ancient fires ; so you not only excite 
me by your counsels, but give me your example. 
Wherefore give earnest attention to my words, and 
correct me if you find I speak not to the purpose. 
When I came to consult the Pythian oracle, that I 
might learn how I could take revenge of the mur- 
derer of my father, Phcebus gave me this answer, 
which you shall hear. That I must steal upon_him 
unprovided of arms or troops, and with my hands 
take just revenge, by killing him. And, since we 
have heard so plain an oracle, you, going when you 
find a favourable opportunity, may know all that 

^ Rich Mycence,'] This epithet is given to Mycenae both by 
Homer, who calls it 'srohv^^vao^Q Mvx^vij?, and Horace, who calls it 
Dites Mycenas, lib. i. od. 7. It was thus enriched by Aga- 
memnon ; but, after his death it began to decay, and in the first 
year of the 78th Olympiad, 466 years before the birth of our 
Saviour, was entirely demolished by the Argians. 



ELECTRA. 59 

passeth in the palace, that when you have seen all 
you may give us a perfect account. For, at this age, 
and after so long time since they saw you, they will 
not know you, nor will they have the least suspicion 
of you, being thus equipped. Tell them that you 
are a Phocean stranger, sent by a ' man of Phano- 
teus, for he is their chief ally ; and tell them, ^ con- 
firming it by oath, that you are sent to give an ac- 
count, that Orestes died a violent death, ^ tumbled 
from his chariot at the ^' Pythian games. Be that 
thy tale. But I, after I have adorned my father's 
tomb, as Apollo commanded me, with libations and 
hair dipt from my head, will come hither again, 
bringing in my arms the brazen urn, which you know 
is hid hard by in a thicket, that we may more easily 
deceive the assassins, by bringing them the confir- 



® A man of Phanoteus.] Phanoteus is a village in the neigh- 
bourhood of Delphi, which was formerly called Panope, as Strabo 

tells us. Tloivo'rrsvq o o vvv ^xvorlivq, ofj^opoq, roTq waot Ae^oc^iav tottoi?, 
^ Confirming it hy oath.^ One might with some seeming justice 
object, that Sophocles in these words encouraged perjury: but 
the Scholiast very well clears him from the imputation of this 
crime, in these words : Aer ya§ av toy TTEiQea^at ru 6ew TO irav ^ohu 
'TT^xcrcetv "Tra^aKEAEUo/xEvo;. wj-e ev oI? ooxEr I'ttiopkuv ^va-ae^Bh, ^»a raluv 
Bva-t^sT 'TFnQofAsyoq ru Bta. For he ought to obey the god who exhorts 
him to do every thing by fraud ; so that wherein he seems to act 
wickedly by forswearing himself, he therein acts piously in obey- 
ing the god. And thus is Abraham justified, when he would have 
oft'ered up his son Isaac; and the Israelites likewise, when they 
borrowed of the Egyptians jewels of silver, and jewels of gold, 
and spoiled them. Exod. xii. 35, 36. 

8 Tumbled from his chariot.] Here is a very considerable fault 
in the constitution of this piece, for the Pythian games, where 
Orestes is here feigned to be slain, were not instituted until five 
hundred years after lie was dead ; this falsehood ruined the pro- 
bability of the piece, of which it is the foundation. Sophocles 
need only have feigned, as iEschylus did, that he was killed some 
other way; it is true Virgil hath as great an anachronism, yet the 
absurdities of one do not justify those of another. 

^ Pythian games.] They were first instituted in honour of 
\ polio, for killing the serpent Python. 



60 ELECTRA. 

mation of the agreeable news, that my body is burnt 
and reduced to ashes. Why should it grieve me to 
pass for dead, since it is plain by my actions that I 
am alive, and am about to gain immortal honour ; 
for I am persuaded that no unfortunate oracle can 
be attended with so much advantage : ' for I have 
often seen wise men falsely reported to be dead, and 
after, when they have returned home, they were 
honoured more; so I promise myself happiness, that 
after I have every where spread the report of my 
death, I shall appear as a star to my enemies, and 
shall still shine. But O my father's land, and gods 
who there preside, receiv e me kindly in these enter- 
prizes; and thou, O my father's palace, for J come 
to wash away those stains by which thou art pollu- 
ted, incited by the gods ; send me not away disho- 
noured out of the land, but greatly enriched, and 
possessor of the palace. I have said enough. Be 
it thy care, old man, now going away, to execute thy 
charge, and we will retire ; the season is now favour- 
able which decides all affairs among men. 
Electra ivithin.^ Woe is me, a wretch ! 

^ For I have often seen wise men, ^c] The Scholiast tells us, 
that Sophocles in this place understands Pythagoras, who inclosed 
himself in a hole in the earth, causing his mother to give out that 
he was dead; and afterwards appearing, taught the doctrine of 
transmigration of souls, confirming it by his own example, saying, 
that before the Trojans, he was ^thalides, the son of Mercury, 
afterwards Hermotimus, and last of all Pythagoras. But it is not 
probable that Orestes should hint at the history of a philosopher, 
who did not appear in the world until six hundred years after his 
death; some, indeed, suppose that he meant Ulysses, particularly 
Dacier, who in ascribing this action to him saith : Comme Ulysse, 
qui aprts avoir passt pour mort pendant plusieurs annees, arrive 
chez lui, tue les poursuivans de sa femme, et retablit I'crdre et la 
iranquillite dans ses estats. But, with submission, I must, with 
the Scholiast, be against this notion ; for, since oracles, which were 
consulted on that occasion, declared that he was alive, and would 
certainly return, he was not looked upon at Ithaca as actually 
dead. 



ELECTRA. 61 

Tutor. I think I hear from within the gates ^ some 
of the servants weeping. 

Orestes. It is poor Electra : wilt thou that we stay 
to hear her sorrows? 

Tutor. By no means ; we will enterprize nothing 
before we have perfonned the commands of Loxias, 
and from thence we will begin pouring out libations 
on your fathers tomb; these things will gain us 
victory and power of doing what is to be done. 



ACT I. SCENE II. 

Electra alone. 

Elect. O, sacred light and air, equally surround- 
ing the earth, woe is me! How often hast thou 
heard my complaints, how many repeated blows 
with which I strike my breast hast thou seen, when 
the dark night is past? For what is done in the 
night, my loathsome bed and sorrowful chamber 
are conscious of, how I lament my miserable father, 
whom, in a barbarian land, cruel death bore not 
away. But my mother, and the consort of her bed, 
iEgisthus, split his head with a bloody axe, as the 
wood-cutters do an oak. No lamentation is heard 
from any other but from me, for you, O father, so 
unjustly and so miserably slain. But I will not 
cease from lamentations and sad complaints, while 
I behold the twinkling stars, and while the sacred 
flambeaux of the day affords me light ; but, like the 
miserable daughter of Pandion, who hath lost her 
young, I will make my cries heard all around be- 
fore my father's gates. O, house of Pluto and 

^ Some of the servants weeping,] The Tutor, hearing Electra 
weeping, judges her to be a servant, for neither did that time of 
the day, the action, or place, agree with a person of her rank, yet 
it is her, whereby we may judge of the excess of her sorrow. 



62 ELECTRA. 

Proserpine ! ^ O, infernal Mercury, and sacred exe- 
cration! and ye furies, the venerable children of 
the gods ! You see those that are unjustly slain, 
and stolen embraces : come, O help me to revenge 
the murder of my father, and send my brother to 
me, for, alone, I cannot bear this pressing burthen 
of grief. 



ACT I. SCENE III. 
JSlectrtty Chorus. 

Cho, O, Electra, daughter of a most unnatural 
mother, why dost thou so inconsolably grieve, la- 
menting Agamemnon, w^ho so long ago fell into the 
snares of a most deceitful wicked woman, and was 
slain by her impious hands ? May he perish who 
committed these crimes, if it be just for me to 
say so. 

JElec. Offspring of noble parents, thou art come 
to comfort me in my sorrows ; I know, and am sen- 
sible my grief is too extravagant, nor am I ignorant 
of all that you can allege, yet will I never cease to 
lament my murdered father. Wherefore, my com- 
panions, who so well repay the kindness which I 
have for you, suffer me here, I beseech you, to pine 
away with grief. 

Cho, But neither with lamentations or prayers 
shall you raise your father from the lake of Pluto, 
the general rendezvous of all the world; but, by 
this complaining you augment your woes, and pe- 
rish in those evils for which there is no remedy ; for, 

^ Infernal Mercury. 1 He was, according to the poets, the 
messenger of all the gods, and his office was to conduct departed 
souls to their desired Elysium. Hor. lib. i. od. 10. 

Tu plus Icetis animas reponis 
Sedihus — 



ELECTRA. 63 

why dost thou abandon thyself to unsiipportable 
sorrow ? 

Elec. He must be very insensible who could for- 
get his father who died so miserably. But for me, 
my greatest comfort is to imitate the plaintive bird, 
the "" messenger of Jove, who always laments her 
dear Itys. O, most miserable Niobe, I worship 
thee as a goddess, who turned into a stone sepul- 
chre for ever weepest. 

Cho. Thou art not the only of all mortals who 
hath known sorrow ; wherefore, why dost thou ex- 
ceed all those to whom thou art related in excess of 
grief? " As Chrysothemis, and Iphianassa, and 
Orestes, kept in private, who support their afflictions. 

Elec. O, happy Orestes ! whom, in an estate 
worthy thy royal birth, the noble land of Mycenae 

*" Messenger of Jove.l The swallow, — so called from giving 
notice of the approaching spring ; or, rather, the approaching 
day; — since the ancients called Jupiter the day, according to 
Macrobius. Saturn, lib. i. cap. 15. 

He is feigned, by the poets, to have been first called Progne, 
the daughter of Pandion, king of Athens : she married Tereus, 
king of Thrace, and, being desirous to have her sister Philomela 
witli her to keep her company, sent Tereus for her ; but upon the 
road he ravished her, and cut out her tongue, lest she should dis- 
cover him. But she represented the story in needle-work so well, 
and sent it to her sister, that she soon perceived her husband's 
villany ; to revenge which, she murdered their son Itys, and sat 
him before them to be eaten ; at which Tereus, enraged, ran at 
her with a drawn dagger, but she fled, and was tumed into a 
swallow, Tereus into an owl, and Philomela into a nightingale, 
and Itys into a pheasant. Hor. lib, iv. od.l2. 

Ityn JiehiUter gefnens ; 

Infelix avis. 

" Chrysothemis and Iphianassa.^ Euripides, and other poets, 
contend that Iphigenia and Iphianassa were the same, with whom 
Triclinus agrees. But, with submission, that must be a mistake ; 
since the former had been sacrificed by her father to Diana, at 
Aulis, before his death, and Sophocles speaks of the latter as 
alive ; besides, the old Scholiast cites an author, who says Aga- 
meumon had four children. 



64 ' ELECTRA. 

will receive, when Jove shall deigii to conduct him 
hither. I continually in this miserable state wait 
for him, abandoned by all the world, without chil- 
dren, without marriage, and am always wet with 
tears. These are my sad evils ; but he forgets all 
his sufferings, and those accounts of mine, of which 
I have informed him ; for what false message does 
he not send ? He is very impatient to see me, yet 
that impatience makes him not hasten his coming. 

Cho. Cheer up, dear princess, cheer up. Great 
Jove is in heaven, who sees and governs all things, 
to whom remit your excessive anger, and be con- 
tent, nor yet forget your enemies. Time is a god 
which never stays, nor will the son of Agamemnon, 
who possesses Phocian ° Crisa's verdant bank delay 
his return, nor the god who reigns over Acheron, 
bis revenge. 

Elect. But much time of my life is gone without 
hope, nor can I still preserve the least, who fade 
without children, whom no friend protects. But, as 
a stranger unworthy my royal birth, I lodge in my 
father s palace, clad with vile garments, and know 
all the extremities of want. 

Cho, O miserable report of your father s return ! 
and miserable night when he lay in his palace ! 
Since there he received his mortal wound. That 
cruel deed Deceit commanded. Lust slew him; 
but both prepared themselves for that crime by 
another ; whether it were some god or man who 
did it 

Elect. O that day which of all days was most 
bitter to me ! O night ! O dire griefs of a supper 
when my father was assassinated by those perfidious 
wretches ; my dear father, the blows which then 



•* Crisa's verdant bank.] Crisa, or Crissa, a town of Phocis, 
near the Corinthian bay : it was built by Crissus, the son of 
Phocis. 



ELECTRA. 65 

they gave you, have been fatal to me likewise. O, 
may great Jove grant they may suffer a punishment 
equal to their treachery ; nor may they ever taste 
delight, who committed so horrid a crime. 

Cho. Look that you say not overmuch ; hast thou 
no thought how great evils thou bringest upon thy- 
self? And do ye not see that, by your impatience 
and seeking continually to raise new disturbances 
in the palace, you only aggravate your evils ? It 
is dangerous to attack those invested with a regal 
power. 

Elect. The greatness of the evil forces me to it, 
nor am ignorant of my anger, I know it ; but in 
such sad sufferings I can never abstain from these 
imprecations. From whom, O beloved race, should 
I hear a comfortable » word ? From whom, who 
thinks with any reason ? Wherefore, let me alone, 
let me alone,^ comforters ; these complaints I vrill 
for ever utter, nor will I ever cease from murmuring, 
but for ever will lament here. 

Cho. I speak with all the tenderness of a faithful 
mother, that you would not heap sorrow upon 
sorrow. 

Elect. Tell me what other evil have I to fear? 
How can it be well done for me to disregard the 
dead ? Can any one be so unnatural ? If there 
were, I would not be honoured of those ; nor, if 
I lived with one so meek as should forgive such 
wrongs^ would I, in complaisance to him, withhold 
from my father his due tribute of bitter sorrows. 
But, if the wretched murdered king, who is now 
but earth and nothing, lies miserably abandoned, 
and they suffer not a punishment equal to their crime, 
shame is no more on earth, nor piety among mortals. 

Cho. I came hither, princess, more for your sake 
than my own ; and if I speak not what pleaseth 
thee, thou hast prevailed, and I submit to thee. 

Elect. I am ashamed, O dear virgins! if I seem 

F 



66 ELECTRA. 

to you too feeble, nor better able to support my 
afflictions, I cannot resist the violence of my evils. 
O forgive me! for how could any princess, well 
descended, seeing her fathers evils, forbear to 
mourn like me ? which I, both night and day, see 
rather growing than decaying ; to whom, first from 
my mother who bore me, every thing proceeds 
which is most cruel; then in my fathers palace I 
live with his murderers, and am governed by them, 
am forced to ask and receive of them? Then, 
what days do you think I pass, when I see iEgis- 
thus sitting on my father's throne, and wearing the 
same garments with him, and sacrificing to the 
household gods where he murdered him ? And I 
see their last injury, the murderer in my father's 
bed with my wretched mother, if it be right to call 
her mother, who is so vile as to live with such a 
villain, and fears no fury ; but as if she had nothing 
to do but to laugh and triumph in her crimes, when 
that day returns wherein she slew my father by 
fraud, in that day she appoints dances, and sacri- 
ficeth flocks to the sohtary gods. I, unhappy 
wretch, who am a witness to these execrable deeds, 
can do nought but weep and languish, and deplore 
the miserable banquet, called the Supper of Aga- 
memnon, by myself alone ; nor is it permitted me 
to shew the excess of grief my heart would wish' ; 
for my mother, great in words only, raises her 
voice, charging me with these reproaches : *' O 
" impious wretch! dost thou alone perceive thy 
'* father's death? Is no other in grief but you? 
*' May you wretchedly perish, nor may the gods 
" below ever put an end to thy complaints." Thus 
she ordinarily reproaches me ; but when she hears 
from any that Orestes is coming, then bitterly she 
bawls out, standing before me, " Are you not the 
*' cause of this? Is not this your work? Who, 
" stealing Orestes from my arms, privately sent him 



ELECTRA. 67 

" to a foreign land? But be assured you shall 
" suffer a punishment equal to your crime." Thus 
she talks with impudence and rage, and her noble 
spouse, being present, encourages her in this raillery ; 
that effeminate wretch, who is a reproach to man- 
kind, who makes wars only in concert with women. 
But I, still expecting Orestes, the healer of these 
evils, do miserably perish ; and that prince, always 
deferring to come and execute what he hath pro- 
mised me, hath ruined my present and future hopes. 
In such ills, my friends, we can neither be wise nor 
pious, but they change our natures, and force us 
to be bad. 

Cho. Speak, tell me. Dare you speak this lan- 
guage while Egisthus is in the palace, or is he gone 
from home ? 

Elect. Certainly he is absent : think not if he 
were at home, that I could have the liberty to stay 
^vithout the gate ; but now he is in the fields. 

Cho. If it be so, I dare with so much the more 
courage join in your discourse. 

Elect. As he is absent demand what \jO\x will. 

Cho. I ask thee what sayest thou of thy brother ? 
is he about returning, or doth he still continue ab- 
sent ? I would know this. 

Elect. He tells me he will come, but doth not 
perform his promise. 

Cho. He who hath in hand a matter of great con- 
sequence ordinarily loves to take long deliberation. 

Elect. But I did not take long deliberation when 
I saved him. 

Cho. Be of courage, princess, he is too generous 
to abandon his friends. 

Elect. I still hope, or I had not lived so long. 

Cho. Say no more, madam, for I see your sister 
Chrysothemis, bearing in her hands sepulchral offer- 
ings, which are ordinarily made to the dead. 

F 2 



68 ELECTRA. 

ACT I. SCENE IV. 
Chrysothemis, Electra, Chorus. 

Chry, What noise is this, sister, you make be- 
fore the palace-gates ? hath not long time yet taught 
thee to forbear this vain satisfaction of abandoning 
yourself to unprofitable griefs ? I am no less sensible 
than you of our miseries, and if my power an- 
swered to my desires, I would shew what I think 
of them; but in the state I am in, I think it more 
prudent to p moderate my resentments, and not to 
cry out vengeance against my enemies, when I can- 
not hurt them ; so I would have thee do. Although, 
what you judge I know is just, not what I say ; yet 
the only way to live free is to obey those in all 
things who have an absolute power over us, 

Elect. It is a sad reproach that thou shouldest 
be born of that father whose daughter thou art, and 
yet forget him, and be so slothfully complaisant to 
thy mother ; for all these your admonitions are 
learnt of her, and you say nothing from yourself. 
Then chuse one of these two faults, confess thou 
art out of thy senses, or if thou art in thy senses, 
thou desertest thy friends, who saidst just now, if 
thou hadst strength, thou wouldest shew thy hatred 
of them ; but while I desire to use my utmost efforts 
to revenge my father, you not only assist not, but 
attempt to divert me from my purpose. These 
things shew your fearfulness ; wherefore teach me^ 
or learn yourself from me, what advantage should 
I gain by ceasing from these mournings ? Do I not 



P Moderate my resentments, ^c] Literally translated it will 
be to sail with narrower sails. A metaphor from sailors, who, 
when the winds are violent, contract their sails, lest their ship 
should be overwhelmed. 



ELECTRA. 69 

live ? It is true I live miserably, but yet I live, and 
that is sufficient for myself. I am troublesome to 
those perfidious vrretches, and by that means afford 
pleasure to my dead father, if there be any pleasure 
among the dead. And you, who boast you hate 
them, in word alone you hate ; yoiu- actions shew 
your w ords are false, who pass your life with your 
father's murderers. For me, I can never submit to 
them, though any one would give me those gifts 
with which you are so much delighted ; let a rich 
table stand before you, and yom* life rolls in plea- 
sure ; but let that only be my food, not to do things 
so mortifying. I desire not to enjoy your honour, 
and, were you prudent, you would renounce it. 
But now, while you may be called the child of the 
best of fathers, you are called your mother's ; so 
that, in this betrajdng your dead father and your 
friends, to all the w orld you will pass for a wicked 
woman. 

Cho. Nothing in anger, by the gods, since you 
might both profit by each other's words, if you 
knew how to follow her counsel, and she your's 
likewise. 

Chri/. I am accustomed, ladies, to hear these dis- 
courses fi'om her ; nor would I again have urged . 
her to repeat them, but I heard some great mischief If 
is like to befal her, which will restrain her from 
making these tedious complaints. 

Elect. Speak, tell me what mischiefs ; if thou 
wilt tell me any greater than these I suffer, I will 
not contradict thee. 

Chry. Then hear the sum of what I have to tell ; 
they will, if you cease not from these mournings, 
send you there where you will never see the light of 
the sun, but, alive in a subterraneous prison, an 
exile from this earth, you shall chaunt out your 
misfortunes ; wherefore, look to yourself, nor blame 



70 ELECTRA. 

me at last when the evil is come; it is still soon 
enough to be more prudent. \ 

Elect. This then is what they resolve to do with me. 

Chry, Yes, when JEgisthus comes home. 

Elect. O that therefore he would return -with 
speed, for my sake. 

Chry. Why, O wretch? What hast thou wished for. 

Elect. That he would come home, if he designs 
to do what you say to me. 

Chry. What, that you may suffer so cruel a pu- 
nishment ? Whither do thy thoughts lead thee ? 

Elect. To fly as far as possible from them and you. 

Chry. Have you no care of your present life ? 

Elect. My life is so happy that I have reason to 
admire it ! 

Chry. It would be so if you knew how to be wise. 

Elect. Teach me not to be traiterous to my friends. 

Chry. I teach you not, but to submit to those in 
power. 

Elect. Submit to them yourself as long as you 
will, it agrees not with my character. 

Chry. But that is good counsel which would 
direct you not to fall through rashness. 

Elect. If we must fall, we will fall in revenging 
our father. 

Chry. Believe me, my father would pardon us all 
these complaisances. 

Elect. These are discourses which wicked persons 
only will approve. 

Chry. Will not you then follow my counsel ? 

Elect. By no means ; I am not so void of sense. 

Chry. Then will I go whither I was sent. 

Elect. Whither wouldest thou go? To whom 
dost thou bear these sacrifices ? 
"^^ Chry. My mother sends me to offer libations on 
the tomb of my father. 

Elect, What hast thou said? What! to him whom 
above all men she hates ? 



ELECTRA. 71 

Chry, Whom herself slew, that you would say ? 

Elect. Who gave her this counsel ? Whom doth 
that act oblige ? 

Chry. I believe some terrors, caused by a dream 
she had last night, put her upon it. 

Elect. "^ O ! the gods of my father, assist me im- 
mediately. 

Chry. How doth that terror raise you up any hopes ? 

Elect. If you will tell me the vision, then I will 
tell you that. 

Chry. I can say but little. 

Elect. But speak it, for often short speeches have 
ruined and raised up men again. 

Chry. 'Tis the report, she thought our father re- 
turned again into the world, and then seizing his 
sceptre which once he bore, but now JEgisthus, 
planted it in the middle of the palace ; and that a 
green branch grew from it, wherewith the whole 
land of Mycenae was overshadowed. These things 
a certain person who was present heard, when "^ she 
told her dream to the sun. I know no more than 
this, but that she sends me on account of this fear. 
Now, by the gods which preside over this land, I 
beseech you listen to me, nor fall by imprudence ; 
for, if now you reject my counsel, afterwards you 
will be forced to submit, when you feel the severe 
scourge of high displeasure. 

Elect. But, O beloved sister, lay none of those 
things on the tomb which you have in your hands, 

^ O the gods, Sfc] Electra hearing of the vision which ap- 
peared to Clytemnestra, she prays that now at last the revenging 
gods would shew their power, and revenge the death of Agamem- 
non, which that vision seemed to presage. 

' She told her dream, S^c] It was a custom with the ancients 
if they dreamed an unlucky dream to tell it to the sun in the 
morning; which, as it was opposite to the night, they thought 
would avert any evil which that dream might bring. Strange su- 
perstition ! 



72 ELECTRA. 

nor is it just or pious to bring funeral sacrifices or 
libations from a woman that is an enemy to your 
father, but hide them deep in the dust, or throw 
them away to the winds, where none of them ever shall 
come to my father s sepulchre^ that these treasures 
may be preserved for her under the earth until she 
dies ; for, consider, I pray, if she were not the most 
insolent of women that ever lived, would she have 
adorned his tomb whom she killed with those hostile 
libations ; or, ' seems it just to you that our father 
«hould favourably receive these gifts upon his tomb, 
from her by whom, after she had basely murdered 

* Seems it just to yoUy 8^c.] It appears, by these words, that 
the ancients thought men retained the same affections after death 
>vhich they had entertained when alive. This further appears from 
the story of Eteocles and Polynices, Oedipus's sous, who having 
killed each other in a single combat, and, being burned in the 
same pile, the flames of their bodies would not unite, but, by 
parting from each oth^r, demonstrated their immortal hatred when 
living. 

Bianor's following epigram informs us of this. 

K«t TTv^] TTv^ riXey^av Ivavliov. a IXsen'O* 
X\.aA^ic,y a.xo^^r\(jj\i ci-^oifxevoi ^o^£\uv. 

Within thy walls, O Thebes ! two brothers lie. 
Who, though deceased, cease not their enmity ; 
For, from their bodies on the pile do fly. 
Enraged corpuscles justling in the sky;. 
With pointed fury eagerly they meet. 
Then, in aversion, scornfully retreat. 
Unhappy youths, by fates denied to have 
The peaceful slumbers of a quiet grave. 

There is a passage in Virgil to the same purpose. i£neid. vi. 
V. 655. Eadem sequitur tellure repostos. 

So here Elecira argues, that, as Agamemnon, though dead, 
had reason to hate Clytemnestra, who had so barbarously mur- 
dered him, it is but reasonable to think he would detest any offer- 
ings paid by her on his tomb. 



ELECTRA. 73 

him, ^ her arms were stuck with pieces of flesh cut 
from him ; and who, to wash away the guilt of mur- 
der, had the courage to "wipe her bloody hands upon 
his wounded head ? But, dost thou think these hba- 
tions will free her from the guilt of the slaughter? 
It cannot be : but, quit your design, and, cutting 
^ from your head the ends of your hair, join with it 
that little which I have left to testify my wretched 
state ; these gifts are but small, yet such as I have : 
and, with my hair, offer, likewise, my girdle, not 
enriched with ornaments of gold, and, falling down 
before him, pray that he may come from the earth a 
friendly assistant against our enemies, and send 
Orestes alive with a superior power to attack them ; 
that, hereafter, with richer gifts we may cro^vn his 
tomb than what we now bestow. For, I am per- 
suaded that his care for us obliged him to send 
these dreams which have filled her with all this 
horror. Wherefore, sister, join yourself to me, la- 
bour for me and yoiu-self, and tlaat most beloved of 

* Her arms were stuck with pieces of Jlesh.] It was usual for 
those who slew others to achroterize, or cut off pieces of the out- 
sides of the flesh of the party slain, and fix them under their 
arm-pits, which would, as they supposed, disable him from send- 
ing furies from the dead to revenge the murder. The word which 
denotes this action, Sophocles takes from Eschylus, who hath the 
word t(A.oca-xoi>^icr^». Thus was Deiphobus used by Helene, as we 
read in the sixth ^neid of Virgil. 

Deiphobum vidi lacerum crudeliter ora, 

Ova manusque ; amhas, populataque ; tempora raptis 

Auribus, et truncas inhonesto vulnere nares. 

Dacier. 

" To wipe her bloody hands*] Another superstition much like 
the other was, that the murderer always took care to wipe his 
bloody sword and hands in the hair of the person slain, thinking 
with the blood to wash away likewise all the guilt of the crime. 
This resembles the action of which Solomon speaks, Prov. xxx. 
V. 20. " Such is the way of an adulterous woman, she eateth and 
" wipeth her mouth, and saith, I have done no wickedness." 

Dacier. 



74 ELECTRA. 

all men, which is now in the grave, our common 
father. 

Cho. This maid speaks piously, and thou, if tliou 
art wise, wilt follow her counsel. 

Chry. I will follow it ; for, when your demand is 
just, 1 have no reason to oppose it, but to hasten to 
action. I will keep this as a secret, and adjure you, 
my friend, to do the same, for, if our mother hears 
it, this attempt will be fatal to me. 



ACT I. SCENE Y. 

Chorus. 

''Strophe. 

If I am no mistaken prophet, nor deprived of all 
my prophetic light, the Goddess of Vengeance comes, 
who always knows her time, her hands are armed 
with power and justice, and very soon too you will 
see her. The agreeable recital of this dream gives 
me this confidence, for it is not possible that your 
father, king of the Grecians, should forget the 
treatment he received, nor that old brazen axe 
which slew him with most cruel blows. 

Antistrophe. 
But the brazen-footed Fury will come with a 

* Strophe, ^c."] These words Strophe and Antistrophe, so 
often mentioned, denote the movements of the Chorus in singing ; 
when they sung the Strophe, they turned from the right hand to 
the left ; and when the Antistrophe, they turned from the left 
hand to the right. The Chorus was divided into two parts, or 
Semi-choruses, as among the Hebrews, the right hand troop began 
and advanced toward the left, and (according to the division of 
the theatre) this was the Strophe ; and when that had done, the 
left hand troop turned toward the right, that was the Antistrophe. 
The Epodos is what the Chorus sang last, till they sang again 
after the next act. . 



ELECTRA. 75 

hundred feet and a hundred hands, though now 
concealed in darkness, and will punish those wicked 
wretches for their criminal mamage; a marriage 
which a horrible assassination preceded. Wherefore 
1 am persuaded that the aiders and abetters of this 
crime will feel the effects of this dream. For 
humane predictions are of no force to interpret 
dreadful dreams, or divine oracles, if this nights 
phantasm bring not to us some good effect. 

Epodos. 

O most unfortunate chariot-race of Pelops ! How 
unhappy thou wert to this land, for ever since that 
fatal moment in which ^ Myrtilus, with such indig- 
nity, was quite tumbled down from his chariot and 
thrown into the sea, this house hath been plunged 
into numberless calamities. 



ACT II. SCENE I. 

Clytemnestra, Electra, Chorus, 

Clyt, You seem to walk about with liberty enough, 
because JEgisthus is not at home, who always re- 
strained you, lest, when you are out, you reproach 

y In which Myrtilus.] This Myrtilus was son of Mercury, 
and coachman to Oenomaus, who being corrupted by Pelops, 
with the promise of part of his kingdom, contending in a 
chariot-race with Oenomaus, caused the chariot-wheel in which 
his master rode to be so loose that it flew off, whereby he fell 
down and broke his neck. But Pelops ill rewarded him for his 
treachery, for, taking him with him when he stole Hippodamiaand 
carried her into Peloponnesus, in their journey he threw him 
headlong into the sea. 

The Scholiast, therefore, says, that Mercury revenged this 
baseness of Pelops to his son upon all his descendants. It ap- 
pears by this passage, and several others, that the Pagans believed 
this truth, viz. that God would punish the iniquities of the 
fathers upon the children unto the third fourth generation. 



76 ELECTRA. 

your friends. Now, as he is absent, you respect 
not me, nor cease to tell all the world that I al)use 
my power ; that I treat you and yours with indignity. 
I do you no injury, but reproach you, being forced 
thereto by your reproaches against me. Your only 
pretence is, that I have slain your father ; it is true, 
and know it was well done, and I deny it not. Jus- 
tice slew him and not I alone, whom it was fit you 
should help if you were wise, because this, your 
father, whom you always lament alone of all the 
Grecians, had the barbarity to sacrifice your own 
sister Iphigenia, not considering a mother's throws, 
which fathers feel not. Pray tell me for what cause, 
for whose sake he sacrificed her ? Will you say it 
w as to pleasure the Grecians ? What right had they 
to demand my children's blood ? Or for his brother 
Menelaus ? Why should he kill my children for 
him, and not, therefore, suffer punishment? Had 
not ^ Menelaus two children, who it was more fit 
should die than mine, being descended of that 
father and mother for whose sake this expedition 
was undertaken ? Had Pluto more desire to devour 
my children than Helen s ? Or will you say that 
wretched father had no love for my children, but 
Menelaus loved his ? Do not these sentiments de- 
clare him unnatural ? I think so. If I speak dif- 
ferent from your opinion, your dead sister would 

^ Menelaus two children.] i. e. Hemione and Nicostratus, 
though Homer allows him to have had but one, viz. the former ; 
but it is an usual thing with the Poets to contradict each other 
to serve their purpose. As what different tales do they tell con- 
cerning the fate of Ajax, son of Telamon ? Some say that he 
was killed by Paris ; others that he was by the Trojans so over- 
whelmed by stones and clay that he died, they having been in- 
formed by the oracle that he was invulnerable by sword ; others, 
with whom Sophocles agrees, say he killed himself. No less 
variety is there in the relation of the fate of Antigone, every poet 
making use, among the various traditions, of that which best 
suited with his purpose. 



ELECTRA. 77 

speak no other language if she could speak. My 
conscience doth not reproach me for what I have 
done, but if I seem to you to think amiss, though my 
cause I think is just, convince me of my error with 
respect and by solid reasons. 

Elect. You shall not say now that after I began 
to affront you with reproachful terms, you only an- 
swered me again in the same kind. But, if you will 
permit me, I would answer for my dead father, and 
for my sister, and contain myself within those 
bounds you have prescribed me. 

Clyt. I permit you, for if you had always begun 
with me with this moderation, you had not heard 
those dismal reproaches you complain of. 

Elect, Then I speak; you say you killed my 
father, and what more base confession can be made, 
whether you killed him justly or not? But I shall 
tell you that it was not justice which armed you 
against him, but the persuasion of a wicked man, 
with whom you now live. Examine Diana, who 
presides over rural sports, for whose punishment 
she bound our fleet in the port of Aulis. I will tell 
you, for from her we cannot know it. My father, 
as I hear, one day diverted himself at the forest of 
the goddess, raised up with his feet a spotted deer ; 
in killing it he boasted, and happened to put out 
some vain word, and from that Latona's daughter, 
taking offence, stopt the Grecians in the port, that 
my father might sacrifice his child for a recompense 
of the beast, for such were the sacrifices of that 
goddess ; nor was there freedom to be purchased 
upon other terms for the fleet to go home, or to 
Ilium ; wherefore, my father, being forced by hard 
necessity, after much resistance, sacrificed her, not 
for the sake of Menelaus. But if, (for I will speak 
your purpose,) willing to oblige his brother, he sacri- 
ficed her, was it fit that he should, for that reason, 
die by your hand r| By what law ? Take care, l^st 



\ 



78 ELECTRA. 

by establishing such a law among men, yourself 
have not reason to repent, and that law be fatal to 
you : for, if we may kill one for another, you your- 
self would first, if you had justice, die. But this 
is only a false pretext to serve your own purpose. 
If you will tell me, I pray, what is it that now 
obliges you to lead a shameful life, receiving to your 
bed that villain, by whose aid you killed my father, 
and get children, but reject the former legitimate 
children, who were descended of parents lawfully 
joined in marriage? How can 1 approve these 
actions ? Or will you say this, that it was to revenge 
your daughter ? Can you say that without a blush ? 
Is it becoming you to marry our bitter enemy to re- 
venge your daughter ? One may not admonish you, 
but you report every where that we revile our mother. 
As for me, I esteem you no less my mistress than 
my mother, who live a miserable life, and am im- 
mersed in many evils, which proceed only from you 
and from your consort. But the other, which is at a 
distance, with difficulty escaping your hands, sad 
Orestes leads a miserable life. You often reproach 
me that I saved him that he might one day punish 
you and revenge my father ; \ O ! if I were able, I 
had done it, assure yourself of that : wherefore, if 
you will, declare it to all the world that I am the 
most wicked of all creatures, the most abuseful, the 
most impudent ; if I have all these qualities, what 
can they say of me but that I resemble jou.%^ 

Cho. I see the princess in great fiwy, but whether 
her fliry be just or no, I know not. 

Cl^t, What shall I think of her who hath treated 
her mother with so much indignity ? And at this 
age hath spoke with this impudence. Do you not 
think that she is capable to do the worst of deeds 
vrithout a blush ? 

Elect, You mistake me ; assure yourself that I am 
ashamed of those speeches, though I seem not to 



ELECTRA. 79 

you to be SO. I understand that such language is 
very indecent in my mouth, but your hatred towards 
me and your actions force me to speak it ; for ill 
deeds are learnt from ill ones. 

Clyt, O, impudent wi'etch, do I and my deeds 
make you speak this language ? 

Elect, It is from you, not me, these discourses 
proceed ; you commit these actions, and these actions 
produce these discourses. 

Clyt. But, by Diana, I swear this impudence shall 
not escape unpunished when iEgisthus comes home. 

Elect, You see how you are overcome wdth rage, 
though you gave me leave to say what I would ; you 
have not patience to hear me. 

Clyt. Wilt thou not suffer me to sacrifice in peace, 
since I have permitted thee to say thy pleasure ? 

Elect. I exhort you to do it. Sacrifice, nor com- 
plain that I interrupt your prayers, for I will say no 
more. 

Clyt. Thou who art present \to her maid] bring 
offerings of all sorts of fruits, that I may lay on this 
altar suppliant sacrifices to Apollo, to deliver me 
from those terrors with which I now am seized. 
Now, ,0 Apollo, whose image is worshipped before 
the gates of this palace, hear my secret prayers 
which I address to you, for I am here among mine 
enemies. Nor is it fit to reveal all my thoughts when 
she is near me, lest, out of spirit of hatred and ca- 
lumny, she spread a vain report through all the city. 
But hear me who address myself to thee ; if those 
spectres which I have seen this night, ^ these doubt- 

y These doubtful dreams.] Gr. ^Wwv ovei^m, alluding either to 
the two gates of sleep, viz. the horn and ivory, (for those dreams 
which entered at the former were supposed to be ominous of 
what would certainly come to pass ; the other, on the contrary, 
^ere reckoned vain and of no effect.) Or, secondly, to two 
visions she had seen, namely, that for which she sent Chrysothemis 
to make libations and offerings on the tomb of Agamemnon, and 



80 ELECTRA. 

fal dreams, O Lycian king, be happy, grant that 
they may be accomplished ; but, if unfortunate, re- 
turn their effect upon my enemies, and suffer them 
not to cast me '^from my present flourishing state, 
if any contrive to do it ; but here for ever grant I 
may enjoy perfect health, and an uninterrupted 
course of prosperity, possess the palace, and sway 
the sceptre of the Atridae, pass a quiet life with my 
friends with whom I am now, and with my children 
who have no ill-will towards me, nor importune me 
with their sad complaints. Hear our prayers, O 
Lycian Apollo, propitiously, and give us all other 
things which we ask ; for, I am persuaded, that, 
being a god, thou art capable of knowing what I 
ask for in silence. Since Jove is your father, it is 
impossible your eyes should not penetrate the most 
hidden secrets. 



ACT 11. SCENE II. 
Tuto7\ Chorus, Clytemnestra, Electra. 
Tut. ^ You ladies of this land, how can I cer- 

that for which she prays to Apollo ; or, thirdly, to the doubtful- 
ness of the dreams. 

^ From my present flourishing state.^ Here is a very lively? 
representation of the precarious state of the wicked, for Clytem- 
nestra here thinks herself in a most flourishing condition, when 
she had not an hour to live ; but is to die in a cruel manner by the 
bands of her own son : so, when the wicked think themselves^most 
secure and say peace, sudden destruction comes upon them. 

* You ladies of this land, how, S^c.'] Here comes in the Tu- 
tor, with his feigned story of the death of Orestes, killed in the 
Delphic games, which story, though feigned, is beautiful in its 
place, and fit to strike an audience with a tragical horror; for 
men are not only desirous in general to know of the death of any 
great man, but likewise the particular circumstances how he 
came by it. \ As to the part of Clytemnestra, it comes very 
d propos, the moment she had ended-iier secret prayers to Apollo 
for the death of Orestes and ELectraA 



ELECTRA. 81 

tainly be informed? Is this the palace of king 
iEgisthus? 

(Jho. Stranger, it is ; thou hast indeed rightly 
judged. 

Tut. And is this his queen ? for her majestic air 
and garb import she is no less. 

Cho. It is true she is the queen. 

Tut. Hail, queen ! I come to bring agreeable 
news, both to you and to iEgisthus, from a friend. 

Ctyt. I receive the happy omen, but desire to 
know who sent you. 

Tut. One of Phocis of the town of Panope hath 
sent this important news. 

Clyt. What, stranger ? speak : since you are from 
a friend, I know well you will speak nothing but 
what is agreeable. 

Tut. In short, Orestes is dead. 

Elect. Woe is me, a wretch ; I am undone this 
day. 

Clyt. What sayest thou, stranger? What sayest 
thou ? Hear not her. 

Tut. I say now, and said before, that Orestes is 
dead. 

Elect. I die a wretch, I am no more. 

Clyt. You mind your own affans. But, stranger, 
tell me without disguise in what manner he died. 

Tut. For that I was sent, and vaW speak all to the 
smallest circumstance. He coming to , the famous 
assembly of the Grecian youths, to join in the Delphic 
games, no sooner heard the voice of the herald 
loudly proclaiming the foot-race, in which they first 
contended, but he presented himself at the barriers, 
shining with svich a god-like lustre, that he gained 
the respect and admiration of all beholders. And 
as his person was glorious to behold, so were his 
actions, for he bore away the glorious prize of vic- 
tory. I cannot, madam, give you a perfect account 
of all the actions of this prince, nor was I witness 



^2 ELEGTRA. 

to them ; but this one thing I say, that he returned 
victorious in ^ the five conflicts which the heralds 

Eroclaimed according to the custom, and vv^as cele- 
rated with the loud acclamations of the people, 
who called him Orestes, the prince of Argos, the 
son of Agamemnon, who once raised a famous 
army of Grecians against Troy. \This was his suc- 
cess. But when the gods resolve to afflict any, he 
cannot even who is strong escape.X For the next 
day when the sun arose, which was the day of the 
chariot-course, he entered with "" many other cha- 
rioteers. When the judges of the game threw lots, 
and ranged in order the chariots by those lots, the 
signal given by the sound of a brazen trumpet, the 
combatants rushed forth, they likewise calling to 
their horses, shook the reins in their hands. The 
whole plain was filled with the noise of rattling 
chariots, the dust was likewise raised, and all mixed 
together, they nothing spared their spurs that every 
one might out-run his rival to get before the breath 
of his coursers, which breathed on them ; and the 
breath of the horses, mixed mth dust, raised such 
a cloud, that it quite hid their chariots fi^om our 
sight. But the young prince near the last pillar 
still turned his axle-tree, and for that purpose letting 
go the horse, Siraeus, on the right hand, stopped the 
other. Heretofore every chariot kept its right order, 
until the unruly horses of the prince of Thrace, by 
force bound forward and by making many turns, 
meet face to face Avith the Libyan chariots, and fi-om 
this confusion one rushed forward and met another. 

^ The Jive conflicts.'] Gr. IlgvJaSxa, viz. leaping, throwing 
quoits, casting darts, running, and wrestling. Simonides hath 
comprised them all in one verse, 

'AA//.a, i!70^UKt\'i)Vf ^iay-oVf anovloif laa.'KviV. 

^ Many other charioteei^s.'] Here I miss a few proper names 
which I thought to be of small importance, which I hope the 
reader will excuse. 



ELECTRA. 83 

Jn a moment this mischief was general, the whole 
Chrisaean field was filled with wrecks of horses. 
But an ingenious Athenian charioteer seeing this, 
turns aside his reins, and stopping his chariot made 
it stand still, thereby to avoid that confusion of 
horses, which perfectly resembled a ship- wreck in a 
tempestuous storm. But Orestes being arrived at 
the last column, whose horses were in the last rank, 
was confident he should gain victory. As he saw 
this young Athenian the only one that could dispute 
the prize, he made a smart noise about the ears of 
his swift horses, follows up, and both driving up, 
equalled the horse manes of each other ; now one, 
now another outstrip each others chariot; and 
miserable Orestes directed right his other courses, 
his chariot still entire, until slacking the left rein, 
while the horse turned himself, imprudently he struck 
against the last column, broke the naves of the axle- 
tree, and falls down from his chariot ; by his reins 
is dragged along, and, falling on the ground, his 
horses, in a furious manner, pursue their course. 
But when the multitude saw him fallen from his 
seat, they mourned the youth whose fate, after 
having given such proofs of his conduct and valour, 
was to suffer such ills. Now is he borne along the 
ground, now he raised up his legs toward the skies, 
and the charioteers who ran with him after many 
efforts restraining the race of his horses, loosed his 
miserable body, which was so bloody and so dis- 
figured, that none of his best friends could know 
him ; and presently burning him on a funeral pile, 
certain men of Phocis appointed to that purpose 
bear the sad remains of his body in a small urn, 
that he may obtain a sepulchre in his father's coun- 
try. This is the news I tell you, and even the re- 
cital is afilicting, but we, who were witnesses of the 
spectacle, have been forced to avow that we never 
saw any thing so terrible. 

G 2 



84 ELECTRA. 

\Cho. Alas ! it seems the whole race of our ancient 
kings is quite extinct. 
Clyt. O Jupiter, what is this, shall I call it for- 
tunate or evil ! I see it is profitable, however ; but 
that I preserve my life by my evils is a dismal state. 
Tut, Why, madam, are you so concerned at this 
^ news ? 

^ Clyt. Is any thing so powerful as nature ? For 

when we have brought children into the world, for 

^ the very worst treatment we cannot hate them. 

Tut. As it seems, we came hither in vain. 

Clyt. Not in vain* How doest thou speak in vain, 

since thou art come to me ; bringing certain signs 

of the death of a son, who, forgetting that he was 

. born of me, departed from my breasts which gave 

I him milk, and tender education, and lived, an exile, 

1 with strangers ; of a son, who, since he departed 

; hence, never returned to see me, and accusing me 

I for his father's murder, witli dreadful threats so 

afflicted me, tliat iieither night nor day sleep closed 

my eyes, but every moment I looked upon myself 

as a victim prepared for slaughter; but this day I 

am freed from fear both from Orestes and Electra ; 

for this daughter was my greatest domestic evil, 

drinking my heart's blood ; but now quiet, even 

from Electra's threats, I shall lead my Hfe. 

Elect. Woe is me, a wretch ! Now, Orestes, is 
it time to deplore thy calamity, who, even in the 
state thou art in, provest the severity of a barbarous 
mother. By the gods thi^ is not well ! 

Clyt. Not what you expected ; but as he does, he 
does well. 

Elect. ^ Hear, Nemesis, the dead prince, who 
appeals to you. 

^ Hear, Nemesis, the dead.] Nemesis is supposed to be the 
goddess whose particular care it is to punish all injuries which the 
living do in words or deed against the dead; thus, in the fifth acf, 
./Egisthus, after having expressed his joy for the news of Orestes's 



ELECTRA. 85 

Clyt. She heard whom she should, and hath done 
them justice. 

Elect. Now insult over us, Fortune hath fa- 
voured you. 

Clyt. Will Orestes and you never cease these 
menaces ? 

Elect. We will not only cease, but will submit to 
you. 

Clyt. I cannot sufficiently express my obligations 
to you for silencing this importunate wretch. 

[To the Tutor of Orestes, 

Tut. Therefore, since all things are well, I have 
nought to do but to return. 

Clyt. By no means ; that were poor recompense 
for the pains you have taken, and the service he did 
us who sent you, to let you return so quickly ; but 
go into the palace, and let her, without, mourn the 
evils of herself and her friends. 



ACT II. SCENE III. 

Electra, Chorus, 

Elect. What say you, my companions? Think 
you she sadly gTieved, sent out a sigh, or shed one 
tear for her son, who met his fate in a cruel manner? 
\ No, but the wretch departed laughing. Woe is me, 
poor maid ! O de.ar Orestes, who, dying, hast de- 
stroyed me ; thou art gone and hast borne to thy 
tomb with thee the only hope I had, that you would 
sometime come to revenge my father and deliver me ; 
but now whither must I go ? I am alone, deprived 

death, restrains his transports by these words : t* 5^' eVEn Ns/xe^tk, 
» x/jw. Wherefore, Caliiniachus, in his Hymn of Ceres, speaking 
of the insolence of Erisichthion, says : — 

Nemesis hath recorded this insolent speech. 



S6 ELECTRA. 

of you and my father too, and reduced to the 
state of a slave to my bitterest enemies, the mur- 
derers of my father. Ye gods how am I fallen ! But 
for the future I will not cohabit with these monsters. 
I will go and cast myself before this gate, where, 
deaf to the voice of comfort, I will wither out my 
life ; and if the possessors of the palace are tired in 
seeing and hearing me, let them kill me ; why should 
I desire to preserve that life which only serves to 
prolong my miseries ? 



ACT II. SCENE IV. 

Chorus, Electra joins with the Chorus. 

Elect, * Where are the thunderbolts of Jove ? 
Where is the bright sun ? Are they quiet, and over- 
look these things ? Alas ! alas I 

Cho. Why weepest thou, princess ? 

Elect. Alas! 

Cho. Do not exalt thyself, but wait God's leisure. 

Elect. Thou undoest me. 

Cho. How? 

Elect. If thou wilt bring me any hope to comfort 
me, under the loss of those who are certainly dead, 
while I languish, thou wilt be but more troublesome, 
and augment my woes. 

Antistrophe II. 
Cho. ^ I know king Amphiaraus, being hid, was 

® Where are the thunderbolts.'] The Chorus in the formtir act 
comforts Electra with the hopes of Orestes*s return, saying, cheer 
up, O child, great Jove is in Heaven, &c. but now, drivea to 
despair by this message, and seeing Clytemnestra indecently re- 
joice at it, doubts whether there be a God to suffer such things. 

^ . I know king Amphiaraus.'] The story of Amphiaraus is thus • 
he was a very skilful soothsayer, and when Adrastus, king of tl| 
Argives, would assert the Theban crown to his son-in-law, Poly- 



ELECTRA. 87 

betrayed by the deceit of a woman for a golden 
bracelet, and now among the dead. 

Elect. Alas! alas! 

Cho. With an immortal soul he reigns. 

Elect, Alas! 

Cho. Alas! indeed, for that wretch perished. 

Elect. Was not Eriphyle punished therefore ? 

Cho. Doubtless. 

Elect. I know it well, for there was one who se- 
verely revenged the sufferings of Amphiaraus ; but 
I have none to revenge my father s, but he whom I 
had is ravished fi'om me. 

Strophe. 

Cho . Princess, the most unfortunate that ever lived . 

Elect. Alas ! I know but too many sorrows ; their 
number and duration too well I have learnt. 

Cho. We know the cause of your lamentation. 

Elect. Do not endeavour to comfort me. 

Cho. What sayest thou ? 

Elect. There is no hope, my friends, for he is 
gone in whom my hopes were placed. 

Dices, he was desirous that Amphiaraus should accompany him to 
the wars ; but he, knowing that the war would be fatal to him, 
declined going, and hid himself, lest he should be forced to go, 
his wife Eriphyle only being conscious to it. But Adrastus's wife, 
Argia, bribed her with a golden bracelet adorned with gems, and 
made by Vulcan, for which she discovered where he was, where- 
upon he was taken by force to the wars. When, therefore, he 
understood it would certainly be his ruin, he charged his son, 
Alcmaeon, to kill Eriphyle, which he did accordingly, for which 
he was tormented with Furies so that he died, and Amphiaraus 
was swallowed up alive in the earth. This story Horace hints at 
as an instance, to shew the invincible power of riches, 

-^Concidit auguris 

I Argivi domus ob lucrum. 

\j The Chorus here, to comfort Electra, compares Agamemnon to 
I Amphiaraus, that as he is honoured among the dead for his know- 
|l ledge in the art of prophecying, so will the other for his warlike 
■r exploits. To which Electra answers to this purpose, the case is 
r different, for Amphiaraus had a revenger of his death, viz. Alc- 
/ mseon, but my father's is lost in Orestes. 



88 ELEGTRA. 

Cho. Fate attends all mortals. 

Elect. And must all meet that fate by being* 
draged along by reins, like that poor prince ? 

Cho. An unforeseen misfortune. 

Elect. Why not ? Since he died in a strange land, 
where I could not pay him my last offices. 

Cho. Alas, alas! 

Elect. Nor had he the honours of sepulture from 
me, nor have I shed tears on his tomb. 



ACT III. SCENE I. 

Chrysothemis, Electra. 

Chry. Most loved sister, " I am so transported 
with joy, that I forgot the rules of decency, and 
came with speed : for I bring you most pleasing 
news, and declare an end of all those evils which 
heretofore you suffered. 

Elect, Where can you find a remedy from our 
evils, for which it is not possible to find a cure ? 

Chry. Orestes is with us. I believe that it is as 
true as that you see me. 

s J am so transported with joy, that I for got. ~\ Chrysotherais 
returning from the tomb, having offered her own and sister's hair, 
and finding the libations poured out by Orestes, and the bunches 
of hair, and that variety of flowers, proves, by a probable reason, 
/ that Orestes must be come, since that sort of libations could 
neither have been oftered by Clytemnestra, Electra, or herself. 
This argument is answered by Electra, by giving Chrysothemis an 
account of the message of his death, and that she believed some- 
body had placed there his hair, &c. as monuments of dead Orestes. 
For thus Triclinius explains the word, MyniA.u 'OgeVa t/x^jSi^ o 
jSoj^yp^oj t55? >i£<pa,Xr)(; ocuxo rivo<; rov ocvls (piT^uv, tTTilt^vi rco rci(pu rS 
'AyccfjiBfx.vovo(;y I'vac rtg o^uv ocvlov y-sif^Bvov, tlq ^vvifJi-YiV u^mvrilon 'Opes-8. i, e, 

A lock of hair cut from the head of some of his friends, was put 
upon the sepulchre of Agamemnon, that it might put any one who 
should see it lie in mind of Orestes. 



ELECTRA. 89 

Elect. But thou art mad, my sister, and laughest 
at thy own ills and mine. 

Chry. No, I swear by our father's palace, I speak 
not these things to insult over your afflictions, but 
know he is present with us. 

Elect. Ah me! Of whom have you heard this 
news to which you put such faith ? 

Chry. I received it from none but myself, having 
seen certain signs of his arrival, which I cannot 
doubt. 

Elect. And what certain signs have you seen? 
What have you found, that you cheer yourself with 
such vain hopes ? 

Chry. Now, by the gods, listen to me, and when 
you have heard what I have to say, then you may 
call me wise or simple. 

Elect. Speak therefore, if you find any pleasure 
in speaking. 

Chry. I will inform you of all I know. When 
I came to the sepulchre of my father, I saw milk 
fresh poured, flowing in plenteous streams, and his 
repository round about adorned with all sorts of 
flowers. Being surprised at the sight, I looked 
round lest any man should observe me. When I 
saw all things in a profound silence, I approached 
nearer the tomb ; and the first thing I saw was a 
bunch of hair newly cut. No sooner I perceived 
this, but the image of my brother, whose dear re- 
membrance I always preserve, which is present with 
me in my dreams and imaginations, made me think 
it his hair. Then, taking it up in my hands, I spake 
no ill-boding word, but tears of joy ran down my 
eyes, and I was convinced, as I am still, that these 
ornaments could not come from any but himself. 
For with whom doth it agree but you and I to offer 
such libations ? I did not that I know, nor you ; f<^' 
how could you offer them, to whom it is not pef- 



90 ELECTRA. 

mitted to leave the palace ^ and go to the temples of 
the gods without punishment? Nor doth our 
mother's disposition incline her to offer such kind of 
libations ; nor, if she did it, could she conceal it. 
Therefore doubtless these ornaments could not come 
from any but Orestes. Therefore, sister, be of 
courage, for the gods do not always take pleasure 
in our sufferings ; heretofore our evils were without 
parallel, but this day will probably be a forerunner 
of much happiness to us. 

Elect. O the folly ! How I pity thee ! 

Chrt/. What is the matter ? Is what I have said 
disagreeable to you ? 

Elect. You know neither where you are, nor 
where your thoughts wander. 

CJiry. Why should I not know what I saw with 
my eyes ? 

Elect. He is dead, thou wretch, and the delive- 
rance he promised us is vanished; expect it not 
from him. 

Chry. Woe is me! of whom did you hear this 
news? 

Elect. From a man who was present with him 
when he died. 

Chry, Where is he ? I am in such an amazement 
that I cannot express it. 

Elect, He is at home, and causeth our mother a 
great deal of pleasure. 

Chry. Woe is me, a wretch ! By whom were those 
funeral offerings placed at my father's sepulchre ? 

Elect. I suppose that some body placed there the 
monuments of dead Orestes. 

^ And go to the temples.^ The wicked always Ihiuk that God ; 
is ready to revenge the just whom they have injured, if they pray 
to him ; therefore the murderers would not permit Electra to go to 
the temple, lest the gods, hearing her prayers, should take ren- 
^eance on them for Uie murder of Agamemnon. 



ELECTRA. 91 

Chry. Unhappy as I am, I running with joy 
brought this message, not knowing in what misery 
we are overwhelmed ; but no sooner I am come, but 
have found, besides those former evils, others which 
oppress us. 

Elect, You see what state we are in ; but if you 
will follow my counsel, you will soon ease us of the 
burthen of our present ills. 

Chry. Can I raise the dead ? 

Elect. That is not what I said ; I am not so un- 
wise. 

Chry, What do you command which I can pro- 
mise to perform? 

Elect, It is only to have the courage to follow my 
counsel. 

Chry, If it be for our advantage, I shall not 
refuse it. 

^"^Elect, You know that without industry nothing 
prospers. 

Chry. I know it, and will take what share in the 
task my strength will permit me. 

Elect. Hear now what proposal I make you. As 
to our friends you know we have none in the world, 
but death hath deprived us of them, and we are left 
alone. So long as I heard my brother flourished, I 
had hopes that he would sometime come to revenge 
the murder of my father ; but now, since he is no 
more, I look to you, that, seconding my efforts, yon 
would not refuse to kill ^gisthus, the author of my 
father's death. It is no longer time for me to conceal 
from you my design. Why will you continue sloth- 
ful ? And what well grounded hopes can you now 
have? You have no other comfort but to lament 
your past felicity ; you have nought now but grief, 
and will miserably drag the remaining part of your 
life unmarried, nor need you hope that Hymen's 
flambeau ever will blaze for you ; for iEgisthus is 
not so inconsiderate a man as to suffer your race 



^2 ELKCTRA. 

and mine to flourish, which would infallibly punish 
his crimes: but if you will follow my counsel, 
first you will shew the world that you preserve 
for your father and your brother those sentiments 
of piety which you ought to have; then, as you 
were born, so you shall hereafter be called free, 
when you shall obtain a husband worthy of the 
daughter of great Agamemnon; for good actions 
attract the eyes of all mankind. Do you not discern 
what a reputation you will acquire by obe;ying me ? 
For what citizens or strangers, seeing us, will not 
give us these or the like encomiums ? ' Do you see, 
friends, those two sisters, who by their courage 
raised their father's houses ? Who, by exposing their 
own lives, revenged themselves, and slew their ene- 
mies in a time when they were most" powerful ? It is 
fit we all respect them, it is fit that all should honour 
them in our solemn feast, and in all the assemblies 
of the people, we are obliged to respect their virtue.' 
Such things will all the world say of us, so that 
dead or alive, glory will never forsake us. Where- 
fore, dear sister, be persuaded, do your father this 
service ; arm yourself for your brother, deliver me 
fi-om these evils, deliver yourself, and remember 
this, that it is a thing unworthy those who are nobly 
descended to live a servile life. 

Cho. In such enterprizes prudence is necessary, 
both to him that speaks and him that hears. 

Ch?y. That is true, ladies, and, if she were in her 
right senses, she would have proved it by better 
guarding her expressions before she spoke ; what do 
you pretend to by arming yourself with this audacity, 
and calling me to your help ? Have you forgot that 
you are a woman, and not a man, that your power 
doth not answer that of your enemies ? Good for- 
tune daily favours them, but hath deserted us, and 
quite left us destitute. Do you think it possible to 
enterprize the death of iEgisthus, and that they who 



X 



ELECTRA. 93 

enteiprize it can escape unpunished ? Therefore, 
take care, lest these discourses which you hold 
should bring upon us greater ills, if any should 
chance to hear them ; all that boasted reputation 
will stand us in little stead, if, after we have gained 
it, ingloriously we die. You will say, death is not 
to be feared ; it is true ; but, when we court it, life 
must be our lot; therefore, I beseech you, before 
we quite perish, and destroy our whole race, mode- 
rate your anger, and I will keep secret all that hath 
been said. Por your part, be more ^vise, and re- 
member your weakness, and let time teach you to 
submit to those who are more powerfiil than your- 
self ' 

Cho. Submit, for there is no greater gain that men 
can get than prudence and gt)od sense. 

Elect. You have said nothing unexpected, for I 
knew well that you would not fail to reject my pro- 
posal ; but yet, however hazardous is that enter- 
prize, I will perform it with my own hands ; nor 
will I abandon my father. 

Clii-y. Alas ! I wish you had had the same gene- 
rous sentiments when our father was assassinated, 
you had prevented our miseries. 

Elect, I was always of the same disposition, but 
^eaker then in spirit. 

Chry. Study to be always of that spirit. 

Elect, You only give me this advice because you 
will not join with me. 

Chry. It is fit those who undertake to do ill deeds 
should do them alone. 

Elect, Your prudence I love, but hate your fear- 
fulness. 

Chry. I will do my endeavour to hear you, since 
you commend me. 

Elect. But you shall never have any commenda- 
tion from me. 

Chry. There will be time enough to prove that. 



^" 



94 ELECTRA. 

Elect. Begone, for I can find no help in you. 

Chry. You might, if you could learn it. 

Elect. Go, and tell all that hath passed to your 
mother. 

Chry. I do not hate you so much as to do you so 
bad an office. 

Elect. Consider to what dishonour you would 
bring me. 

Chry. Not to dishonour, but to care for your own 
safety. 

Elect. Must I then submit to your decisions ? 

Chry. When you are more wise, then I will sub- 
mit to yours. 

Elect. How sad is it for one who speaks so well 
to act so ill ! 

Chry. The reproach returns upon yourself. 

Elect. What, do you think I speak not with 
justice ? 

Chry. But, sometimes justice is pernicious to its 
executor. 

Elect. ' I cannot digest those maxims. 

Chry. If you will now act according to your own, 
hereafter you will have cause to commend mine. 

Elect. I will pursue my enterprize without regard 
to what you say. 

Chry. Is it your resolution ? Will you reject my 
counsels ? 

Elect. Nothing is more pernicious than bad coim- 
sel. 

Chry. You seem to mind nothing that I say. 



* / cannot digest those maxims.'] Electra rejects this answer of 
Chrysothemis, and with a great deal of reason ; for, to obsen'e 
strict justice in every instance is certainly the greatest injustice, 
according to that maxim, Summum jus, summa injuria. So 
Electra^thought, that, how strict soever the laws might be against 
murder, yet, it agreed well with the laws of nature and reason to ^ 
revenge her father's death, by killing his murderers. i 



ELECTRA. 95 

Eleet. It was not to-day, but long ago, I made 
this resolution. 

Ckry. I go hence, therefore, for neither dare you 
commend my words, nor I your humour. 

Elect. Go ; I will never, hereafter, communicate 
i»y designs to you, what endeavours soever you use 
to persuade me, for it is a great folly to mind vain 
things. 

Chry, If you think yourself wise, think so still ; 
but, when you have increased your evils by your 
imprudence, then you will commend my counsel. 



ACT III. SCENE II. 

Chorus, Strophe I. 

^ Why, seeing the very birds in the air carefully 
providing nourishment for their parents, who gave 
them their lives, do we not act according to their 
examples ? But, by Jove's lightning, and celestial 
Themis, long they shall not be unpunished. O 
Fame, so much revered of men, and the infernal in- 
habitants, proclaim the lamentable voice to the 



^ Why, seeing the very birds.] The Chorus, seeing the im- 
patience of Electra to revenge her father's death, commends her 
courage, but blames the cowardice of Chrysothemis for forsaking 
her in so great a danger ; but, according to the usual manner of 
the Chorus, doth not directly charge Chrysothemis with inhu- 
manity, but obscurely hints it, and shews that ro§y>?, or natural 
love of near relations for each other, is a law impressed on the 
minds of all creatures, which she, in this instance, had broke. 
There is nothing more fit to shew the degenerate manners of men, 
who act without respect to the laws of nature, which should bind 
all creatures, than to shew that even the brutes love and cherish 
their kind. 

Sedjam serpentum major concordia, parcit 

Cognatis maculis similis/era. Juv. Sat. xr. 



yd ELECTRA. 

Atridse among the dead, and discover these their 
reproaches. 

Antistrophe I. 

That now at home all things are in disorder with 
their children, the two princesses of their family 
cannot live together, but are in cruel dissension. 
That Electra alone, abandoned by all the world, 
exposed to a thousand dangers, and always mourn- 
ing the murder of her father, as the ever-lamenting 
nightingale, is not concerned to die, but is prepared 
to surrender her life, so she may have the satisfac- 
tion to make those two criminals fall as victims to 
her just revenge ; for what princess of noble race 
could live in such a state ? 

Strophe II. 

For no generous person in adversity will purchase 
life at this price, by defacing his glory and his re- 
putation to live in shame and infamy. Princess, 
the miserable life you have always led, and the 
continual war you have made against their crimes, 
ought to gain you this double praise, that you are 
the wisest and the noblest of children. 

Antistrophe II. 

May you live in power and^ riches above your 
enemies, as much as now you are crushed under 
their power, since you have the courage to oppose 
your evils : and, by yoiu^ piety towards the gods, 
have borne away the prize, in that which is the 
most sacred thing among men. 



ACT IV. SCENE I. 

Orestes, Py lades, Chorus, Electra. 

Orest. Ladies, have we been rightly informed 1 
Doth this way lead us where we desire to be ? 



ELECTRA. 97 

Cho. Where? What place do you seek for? 

Orest. ^gisthus's palace. 

Cho, Thou art come right, and hast had some 
skilful guide. 

Orest. Which of you, ladies, will tell those 
within of the agreeable news of our arrival ? 

Cho. Let the princess, since it is fit a relation 
should tell it. 

Orest. Go in, madam, and tell that some Pho- 
cians desire to see ^dsthus. 

Elect. Woe is me ! Do you bring a confirmation 
of that report which we heard? 

Orest. I know not the report you speak of, but 
a certain old man, Strophius, sent me to speak 
something about Orestes. 

Elect. What is it, stranger ? How my fears seize me ! 

Orest. We come to bring the relicks of the dead 
prince, in that small urn which you see. 

Elect. Woe is me ! now the thing is plain, I can 
doubt no more of my miserable state. 

Orest. If you mourn the death of Orestes, know 
that his body is in that urn. 

Elect. Generous stranger, let me by the gods, if 
that vessel contains him, take it in my arms, that 
I may lament and mourn myself and all my family, 
with these ashes. ' 

Orest. Grant her request, you that carry the urn, 
let her be who she will ; for it is not out of hatred 
she urges this request, but she is one of his friends, 
or some near relation. 

Elect. [Taking the urn in her arms.l * O sad 

^ O sad monument of the most.] This part of the fable is very 
moving of the passions ; for, as upon hearing the passionate com- 
plaints of Electra, and for so just a cause, we must needs grieve 
with her ; so are we aflfected with equal joy when she is surprised 
with the agreeable news that the person she speaks to is her bro- 
ther. And thus, in Homer, Penelope grieves for Ulysses while he 
is present with her. 

H 



98 ELECTRA, 

monument of the most beloved of men to me, the 
reUcks of my dear Orestes! JHow different are the 
hopes in which I now receive you from those in 
which I sent you out ? Now I carry thy ashes in 
my hands, but I sent thee from home strong, and 
in health. How do I wish you had been slain, be- 
fore I formed a design to hide you, and send you 
into a strange land to save your life, that in that 
day you had died, and shared one common tomb 
with your father. Instead thereof, in a foreign land 
an exile, in a most cruel manner you have perished 
without your sister to pay you her last offices ; nor 
had I the sad "' coiisolation with my loving hands 

" Consolation with my loving hands to wash your mangled 
corse.] The custom of washing dead bodies and anointing them 
with precious ointment and oil is very ancient, and was used in 
Greece long before Homer's time. Thus they anointed Patroclus, 

Koc) TOTE ^yj "Kiicrctvlof xa» ri'Kn-^ocv Tk^tc tKa,\u. 

It is true, no other material is here mentioned but oil, or any 
where else in Homer, who frequently mentions this custom. Yet 
Athaeneus will allow of no distinction between this oil and /.typo ; 
or ointment, properly so called. The Greeks received this cus- 
tom from the Phoenicians, and the Romans received it from the 
Tuscans, who were originally Tyrians. We read in Ennuis, — 

Tarquinii corpus bona foemina lavit et unxit. 
So in Virgil, ^Eneid. ix. the mother of Euryalus is introduced, 
making the same complaints for her son, which Electra doth here. 

Nee tuafunem mater 

Produsci, pressive oculos, cut vulnera lavi. 

What pangs of grief my throbbing breast invade, 

To think thy mangled carcass was not laid 

Forth on its pile by me. Oh, sad surprise ! 

That I wasn't bye to close thy beauteous eyes ; 

Just as th' expiring soul did take her flight 

Into the regions of infernal night ! 

Oh ! had I wash'd each wound, each sever'd vein, 

When thou, scarce cold, laid'st weltering on the plain ! 

Mr.AbelL 
Servius hath well remarked, that all the care of preparing the 
dead for burial belonged to near relations, but especially to the 
mother or sister ; who, for that reason, were called Funereal 
nam apud majores funereas dicebant eas ad quasfunus pertinebat, 
tit sororenif matrem, Potter Dac, 



ELECTRA. ^.9 

to wash your mangled corse; "nor have I collected 
your sad remains out of the funeral pile, as it was 
iit I should. Now, dear prince, strangers have 
given thee these marks of their piety, and this day 
have brought thee in a small urn. Woe is me ! 
How unprofitable was the pleasing care I took to 
bring you up ? Nor did your mother love you more 
than I, nor was your education the care of any 
other, in our house, but myself; I was always 
called your sister. Now all those things are gone, 
in one day dead with you, and the storm which 
carried you away hath ravished with it all my hopes. 
My father is gone ; you have followed him ; and I 
go to join you : yet our enemies laugh, our unnatu- 
ral mother cannot resist her transports of joy. How 
many times have your private letters made me hope 
that you would come and punish her? But our 
miserable fortune hath prevented you from executing 
your promise, who hath sent you to me, instead of 
your lovely form, ashes and a vain shadow. Woe 
is me ! O, miserable body ! Alas ! O most loved 
brother! Alas the day that ever I sent you into 
Phocis ! How have you destroyed me ! you have 

" Nor have I collected your sad remains out of the funeral pile. 1 
The original is an -s-a/iA^XExItf wypo? avEtAojLtfy, uqi\xoq\ ol^Xiov Qacoq, 
Which the Cambridge edition, printed A.D. 1665, and another 
at Frankfort, 1549, both falsely render, neque in ignem junta 
morem levavi miserum cadaver. This mistake will appear plainer 
by taking notice of the following custom of the ancients, which 
was thus: — After the body of the deceased was burned on the 
funeral pile, they collected the bones and ashes. Thus Homer 
says the brother of Hector did at his funeral. II. <y. v. 792. 

— : '■ Avla^ sTrtClct 

Oriac P^ivxu ^iyovlo xotcriyvviro) Irucof- rs. 

His brothers, then, and friends searched every where, 
And gathered up his snowy bones with care. 

Mr, Congrer.f. 

This office Electra raowrns here, that she had not performed 
to Orestes, 

H 2 



100 ELECTRA. 

destroyed me, O dear brother. Wherefore, receive 
me into that urn with thee, permit my dust to be 
mixed with yours, that, hereafter, I may ever 
dwell with you ; that, as we have had the same 
destiny during our lives, we may have the same 
tomb after death ; for I see the dead do not suffer 
those ills which afflicted them during their lives. 

Cho. Consider, Electra, you was bom of a mor- 
tal father ; Orestes, too, was mortal ; wherefore, 
give not yourself up to unprofitable woes. Must 
we not all die ? 

Orest, °Alas ! what shall I say? How am I per- 
plexed ? I can no longer be silent. 

Elect. What sorrow is this which labours for its 
vent ? why say you so ? 

Orest. Is this Electra, that celebrated beauty ? 

Elect, p It is the same, you see what remains of hei\ 



^ Alas! what shall I say, <5fc.] The remembrance here is dou- 
ble, for Electra first makes herself known to Orestes, by her 
excessive grief for the supposed death of her brother, and after- 
wards he is known t%her by a certain token. The first remem- 
brance, as it arises naturally from the incidents, and doth not 
appear to be invented, is certainly most ingenious, yet it is much 
inferior to the remembrance of Oedipus, for there is no peripetie 
or change of fortune ; for, when they both remember each other, 
they do not yet change their fortune until the murderers are slain. 
But that of Oedipus not only ariseth more from the foundation of 
the subject, by a train of the most natural incidents, but is pro- 
duced in the very moment of the peripetie. Electra's remem- 
brance of Orestes hath still less art, which Sophocles used only 
for want of invention, for the mark which he makes use of to 
discover himself, which he calls a-(p^a,yi^a, 'jrai^o<;, as it is used on 
set purpose, and not produced by chance or a train of incidents, 
hath very little ingenuity in it. For the poet makes Orestes say 
what he pleases, and none contradicts him, and he might as well 
have said any other mark, and none could have opposed it. 

P It is the same.] This seems more fitly to be spoken by the 
Chorus, otherwise Electra would seem to commend her own per- 
son, and besides, as the Chorus answered before, and confirmed 
the Tutor of Orestes, who thought Clytemnestra to be the 
queen, by her gorgeous habit ; so, by a parity of reason, when 



ELECTRA. 101 

Orest. Woe is me, for thy too rigorous fortune 1 

Elect. Why, stranger, dost thou thus lament for me ? 

Orest. O, princess, whom unworthy treatment 
hath so changed ! 

Elect. I am the very wretch which you lament. 

Orest. Alas! thy unfortunate state. [Weeps. 

Elect. Why, generous stranger, dost thou look 
on me thus and weep ? 

Orest. How little have I known of my misfortunes ? 

Elect. How do you know them by what I have said ? 

Orest. Seeing you overwhelmed with numberless 
sorrows. 

Elect. You have seen but the smallest part of my 
^sorrows. 

Orest. How is it possible to see any thing more 
grievous ? 

Elect. I am obliged to live with murderers. 

Orest. Whose ? what evil is that you inform me of? 

Elect. Those of my father ; then I serve them as 
a slave. 

Orest. Who forces you to that sad extremity ? 

Elect. She is called my mother; but is nothing 
like a mother. 

Orest. By what means, by force, or refusing you 
the necessaries of life ? 

Elect. By force, ill maintenance, and all the bad 
treatment she can devise. 

Orest. Have you no person to assist you ? 

Elect. None : him whom I alone expected you 
have brought here reduced to ashes. 

Orest. O unfortunate princess I thy sad state moves 
me to pity for thee. 

Elect. Be assured thou art the only man that ever 
pitied my miseries. 

Orestes doubts here whether this be Electra, being so disfigured, 
he is satisfied by the Chorus that she is ; though most editors 
suppose Electra to make this answer. 



102 ELECTRA. 

Orest. A lone I come to testify the grief I feel for 
all your misfortunes. 

Elect. Art thou one of our relations ? 

Orest. I would tell if I could assure myself of 
the fidelity of these women. 

Elect. You may assure yourself, they are my 
ever faithful friends. 

Orest. Then quit the urn, that you may hear the 
better. 

Elect. Generous stranger, by the gods force me 
not to lay it down. 

Orest. Submit to me, and you will not do amiss. 

Elect. Now, I conjure you, take not away those 
most beloved relicks. 

Orest. I say I will not leave them with thee. 

Elect. Ah me, a wretch ! O, dear Orestes, you 
still augment my evils if they wrest from my hands 
your ashes. 

Orest. Conceive better hopes, you afflict yourself 
unjustly. 

Elect. How do I afflict myself unjustly, if I de- 
plore my brother's death ? 

Orest. But your brother refuses your tears. 

Elect. Am I then unworthy to deplore my bro- 
ther's death ? 

Orest. You are imworthy of nothing ; but these 
complaints are not in season. 

Elect. Why not in season, since I bear the body 
of Orestes? 

Orest. But it is not Orestes's body, it is only 
feigned to be so. 

Elect. Where then is the miserable prince's se- 
pulchre ? 

Orest. No where ; the living hath no sepulchre ? 

Elect. What sayest thou ? 

Orest. The truth. 

Elect. Doth he still live ? 

Orest. Yes, if I am alive. 



ELECTRA. 10.3 

Elect, Are you he ? 

Orest, '^ Behold this mark of my father, then 
judge if I say true. 

Elect. Most happy day. 

Orest. I witness it is most happy. 

Elect. Do I at last hear thy voice, my Orestes ? 

Orest. My sister, doubt it not. 

Elect. Do I hold thee in my arms? [^Embraces him. 

Orest. And may this be an earnest of the plea- 
sure you will ever have by my presence. 

Elect. Most loved companions, behold Orestes, 
preserved alive by those arts which had reported he 
was dead. 

Cho. We see him, princess, and at this event, so 
imexpected, a joyful tear falls from my eyes. 

Elect. My dear Orestes, at last you are come, 
you have found, you see whom you desired to see, 
and who waited for you with so much impatience. 

Orest. I am, but wait in silence, my sister. 

Elect. Why? 

Orest. It is better to be silent, lest any in the 
palace should hear you. 

Elect. No ; by the ever chaste Diana, I will ne- 
ver fear the women of this palace ; they are a vile 
troop, who are only an useless burthen to the earth. 



^ Behold this mark.] Gr. o-(ppuy7^cx. isrul^og, there are various 
opinions what this mark should be. Triclinius says it was the 
ivory shoulder which the gods gave Pelops, and appeared after- 
wards upon his descendants ; others call it ^axl^Atov, or a ring ; 
another scholiast contradicts both these Opinions, and says it was 
(r(p^oiy7ooe., 'ijysv rov y^oc^ctKiri^ec tS 'nr^ocruTra y.oc) t5 Aoi^rS au^ocroq tov 
nctra, 'DTccvloi oi^oiov ra i^a OTolpt 'A/a//E/xvovt, the markj that is to say, 
the make of his face, and of the rest of his body, every way like 
to my father, Agamemnon's. The first opinion is most probable, 
both because a recognizance made by a natural mark is much 
better than any foreign or acquired one ; and because several fa- 
milies had such natural marks by which they were distinguished 
from those of any other; — as the descendants of Cadmus, a lance; 
the Seleucides, an anchor. 



104 ELECTRA. 

Orest. But take care ; you have experienced that 
there is in women sometimes a martial mind. 

Elect. Alas ! you have called to remembrance an 
evil that is too plain to be disputed, and which we 
can never forget. 

Orest, I know all that ; but, when it is a proper 
season, we will talk of these things. 

Elect. It is always time for me to speak with jus- 
tice, for I never yet curbed myself; and what should 
silence me now I am free ? 

Orest. I say that, too ; but endeavour to pre- 
serve that liberty. 

Elect. What must I do ? 

Orest. It is not now a proper time to use many 
words. 

Elect. Who should oblige me now to be silent, 
since you are come in so miraculous a manner, when 
I had lost entirely all hopes of seeing you. 

Orest. You see me now, when the gods ordained 
that I should come. 

Elect. You have said something which gives me 
more joy than your return. If God moved you to 
come to Argos, then I suppose your arrival is the 
work of a divine power. 

Orest. I would not forbid you to suppress your 
joy ; but I fear lest you be over-much transported. 

Elect. O thou, who, after so many years absence, 
hast at last happily returned to me, since thou hast 
found me in so bad a state, drowned in tears, do 
not 

Orest. What shall I not do ? 

Elect. Do not deprive me of the satisfaction which 
I find, in testifying the pleasure I have of beholding 
you. 

Orest. Doubtless, nor would I suffer another to 
doit. 

Elect. Dost thou permit me then ? 

Orest, How can I hinder you ? 



ELECTRA. 105 

Elect. My fiiends, I heard the unexpected news 
of the death of my Orestes, and mourned with 
secret grief, nor did I interrupt with my complaints 
the recital of his death ; but now I have you, I enjoy 
your most beloved presence, which I could not for- 
get even in my afflictions. 

Orest. Omit these superfluous speeches, and teach 
me not that my mother is wicked, nor how jEgisthus 
at home exhausts our father's wealth, which he un- 
justly hath ravished from us, your talk may deprive 
us of the proper season of action, but instruct me 
what is proper to be done this present juncture, 
whether, to revenge ourselves of our enemies, who 
triumph in our supposed misfortunes, we had best 
appear openly, or lie concealed. But, chiefly, be- 
ware lest our mother should discover any mark of 
joy in your countenance when we enter into the 
palace, but lament as for that false report of my 
death ; when we have effected our enterprize, then 
will it be time to rejoice and laugh Avith freedom. 

Elect. My brother, I shall ever take pleasure in 
what will be most agreeable to you. It is very just 
that I should obey you ; since it is from you, not 
from myself, that all my happiness proceeds, nor 
would I purchase to myself the greatest treasures by 
giving you the smallest pain ; that would not be to 
accommodate myself to my present fortunes. But, 
knowest thou what passeth in the palace? Why 
not, hearing iEgisthus is not at home ; but our mo- 
ther is alone within, you need not fear that she shall 
see in my countenance any marks of gaiety, for an 
old hatred glowed in me against her, and, since I 
have seen thee, I Avill not cease to weep tears of joy ; 
for how can I refrain, who, after I had received you 
dead, see you alive ? And you have aflected me 
with such unexpected joy, that, if my father should 
return to life, I would not think it a gTeater miracle, 
but believe I see him ; and since, therefore, thou 



106 ELECTKA. 

art arrived here so unexpectedly, do whatsoever 
your reason shall dictate ; for me, though I were 
alone, I would not have failed in both these things, 
but would gloriously have delivered myself, or 
gloriously have died in my enterprize. 

Or est. Be silent, pray, I hear a noise, somebody 
comes out of the palace. 

Elect. Enter, ye Phocians, ye bring a message 
which nobody will reject, but will not long rejoice 
that they received it. 



ACT IV. SCENE II. 

Tutor, Orestes, Pylades, Electra, Chorus. 

Tut. Most imprudent as you are, have you no 
regard for your lives ? Are you entirely void of 
common sense, and do you not know that you are 
not only near, but even enclosed in the greatest 
dangers ? Unless I had posted myself at this gate, 
to prevent any person from hearing, your designs 
had been in the palace before your bodies ; but I 
have prevented that by my care. Wherefore, put 
an end to those long speeches, and these ti'ansports 
of joy, and come in speedily ; it is dangerous to 
delay in such enterprises. Come along, it is now 
the very juncture for us to effect what we have 
begun. 

Orest. What will be the consequence if I go in ? 

Tut. Very good, for none there knows you. 

Orest. It seems, then, you have told that I am 
dead. 

Tut. You pass with them for one of those among 
the dead. 

Orest. Do they rejoice therefore ? Or what do 
they say ? 

Tut. I vdll tell you when we have done, but she 
seems to be most happy who is least so. 



ELECTRA. 107 

Elect. By the gods, my brother, tell me who this 
is. 

Orest. Do you not know him ? 

Elect. I have not the least idea of him. 

Orest. Know you not into whose hands you once 
dehvered me ? 

Elect. To whom, what dost thou say ? 

Orest. He to whose hands I was sent into the 
Phocian land through your providence. 

Elect. Is this he whom alone of many I found 
faithful, when my father was murdered ? 

Orest. This is the same, inquire no more. 

Elect. O day most beloved ! O, only saviour of 
the house of Agamemnon, how did you come ? Are 
you he who saved him and me from many evils ? O 
most beloved hands always so assisting us ! O how 
happy is your arrival ! Why so long, when you 
were here, did you conceal yourself from me, nor 
make yourself known ? How had you the courage 
to give me a thousand deaths by your discourses, 
while you had in hand enterprises most delectable 
to me ? Hail, father ! for I seem to behold my 
father. Hail ! for know that, as I hated you the 
worst of all men, so I love you in one day. 

Tut. Enough, madam, these moments are too 
precious; we shall have time enough to entertain 
you with this subject. Now, princess, it is time we 
hasten to action ; now Clytemnestra is alone, and 
no man is within the palace ; but, if you let so 
favourable an opportunity escape, prepare to op- 
pose the strength and skill of gi-eater numbers than 
these. 

Orest. Wherefore, my Pylades, this affair requires 
no long discourses, but let us go in, that this busi- 
ness may be done as quick as may be, after we have 
worshipped our father's gods who are placed hero 
liefore the palace-gates. 



108 liLECTRA. 

ACT IV. SCENE III. 

Electra, Chorus. 
Elect, O king Apollo, mercifully hear their prayers, 
and mine likewise, who often stood before you to 
present, with a liberal hand, such offerings as I 
could present you with, in my misery, and who 
come still to day with the same disposition to pre- 
sent the same sacrifices, that is to say, my prayers, 
my vows, and supplications. Now, O Lycian 
Apollo, I prostrate myself in your presence, and 
beseech you to be ready to assist our enterprise, and 
shew men that punishment which the gods reserve 
for their impiety. 

Strophe. 

Cho. You see how Mars, who breathes nought 
but blood and slaughter, walks along ; the inevita- 
ble Furies, which pursue evil actions, are in the 
palace ; so that my predictions are not vain, but will 
soon be accomplished. 

Antistrophe. 
For the young prince, armed to revenge the dead; 
enters into possession of his father's wealthy palace, 
having in his hands the avenging sword newly 
drawn ; ' but Mercury, the son of Maia, surround 
him with a dark cloud until the work is done. Ven- 
geance is ready, and will soon be completed. 



ACT V. SCENE I. 
Clytemnestra, JElectra, Chorus. 
Elect. My dear companions, the princes present- 

' But Mercury, the son of Maia.} He is esteemed the god of 



ELECTRA. 109 

ly will achieve their enterprize ; but, be silent, make 
no noise. 

Cho. Why, what are they now doing ? 

Elect. ' She is providing- all things necessaiy for 
the funeral supper of Orestes ; but they stand close 
by her. 

Cho. Wherefore did you nish out? 

Elect. To guard, lest ^Egisthus, on a sudden, 
should come undiscerned. 

Clyt. [Within.'] Alas! alas! the palace is deserted 
of friends, and full of murderers. 

Elect. Somebody cries within ; do you not hear, 
my friends ? 

Cho. Alas ! I have heard what I cannot hear 
without trembling and horror. 

Clyt. Woe is me ! iEgisthus, where art thou ? 

Cho. Somebody cries again. 

Clyt. O son, son, pity her who bore you ! 

Elect. But he had no pity from you, nor had he 
who gave him life. 

Cho. O city ! O miserable race 1 Now the fate of 
this day hath plunged you into the worst of miseries. 

Clyt. Woe is me! I am struck. [Within. 

Elect. ' Strike ; if you can, double the stroke. 

deceit and fraud, whence he is called ^oXto?, the deceiver. Homer, 
in the last Iliad, supposeth Priam, by his conduct, to have passed 
over all the Grecian camp, until he arrived at the tent of Achilles, 
® She is providing all things necessary for the funeral siipper.] 
Gr. 'h ij.\v I, rdpov ^«C»3l« Koa-fAu. We must understand (saith one 
of the Scholiasts on this place,) that the word ra,(poc signifies two 
things, either the place where the monuments of the dead are 
placed, or a supper which was made to comfort the relations of 
the deceased for their loss. So here, they had a supper for 
Orestes, who was supposed to be dead ; as another of the Scholiasts 
says, who, further to explain U rutpo*, says, tU to Tcso'i^ti'rrvop to i-rt 

ru O^if*) ^oKtivlt ocsroXuXivui. 

* Strike ; if you can, double the stroke.] The characters which 
Sophocles here gives Orestes aud Electra are too cruel ; and he 
who otherwise so well imitated Homer, yet here hath come very 
short of that great original ; who, in speaking of the action of 



110 ELECTRA. 

Clyt, Woe is me ! again. 

Elect, I would they would do the same to ^gisthus. 

Cho. The imprecations are perfected, they arise 
who are under the earth; for the dead return to shed 
the murderer's blood. 



ACT V. SCENE II. 
Electra, Orestes, Pt/lades, Chorus. 

Elect. But they come, and their bloody hands 
drop with a sacrifice of Mars. Well, my brother, 
say how our affairs stand within. 

Orest. Well, if the oracles of Apollo are true, 
the wretch is dead ; you need fear no more the in- 
dignities you have suffered from that barbarous mother. 

Cho. Cease, I see j3igisthus approaching near us. 

Elect. Retire immediately to the entry, that, since 
you have so well begun, you may accomplish your 
enterprize. 

Orestes, commends the murder of ^gisthus, but says nothing of 
that of Clytemnestra ; being sensible that how great soever her. 
crime was, yet it did not become her own children to punish it in 
that manner. The moral indeed is very good, namely, to shew 
that the divine vengeance will certainly punish usurpation and 
murder in the severest manner ; yet that doth not excuse the 
atrocity of the fact. See Homer, Lib. iii. Odyss. 

'A"^' ait 'A^rinciuv xuTcH ^' sxlavs vcil^otpoviia 
"AtfKrBov ^oXo^ijItv, ol 'BtuIs^oc. xAJJov sxia. 

In the eighth year came godlike Orestes from Athens, and slew 
traiterous iEgisthus, his father's murderer ; and after he had killed 
him, he prepared a supper for the funeral of his hated mother, 
and her effeminate consort, ^gisthus, to which he invited the 
Argians. Therefore, since Homer here commends Orestes for 
killing j^gisthus, but says nothing of killing his mother, Sophocles 
ought to have observed the same conduct. 



ELECTRA. Ill 

Antisystema. 

Or est. Be not uneasy, we will do as thou wouldest 
have us. 

Elect. Make haste then. 

Orest. I am gone. 

Elect. I will take care of what is to be done here. 
[Orestes, ^c. retire in at the ^ates of the palace. 

Cho. It were very convenient that we speak a few 
mild words in this man's ear to deceive him, who, 
while he suspects no ill, falls into the punishment 
which the Goddess of Vengeance prepares for him. 



ACT V. SCENE III. 
JEgisthus, Electra, Chorus. 

JEgisth. Which of you knows where are the 
Phocian strangers, who are come to inform us how 
Orestes was slain in a chariot- course ? You I ask, 
you who have been always so fierce ; for you take 
too great a part in this accident not to be well in- 
structed. 

Elect. I am instructed ; why not ? Should the 
knowledge escape me of the calamity of him who 
was most dear to me ? 

JEgisth. Where are the strangers ; tell me ? 

Elect. Within with your queen, who entertains 
them kindly. 

^gisth. And have they declared that he is cer- 
tainly dead ? [To Electra. 

Elect. They have not only assured us of it by 
their words, but have given us such proofs as leave 
us not the least room to doubt. 

^gisth. And can I go myself; and see those 
proofs. 

Elect. Yes ; you may go and feed your eyes with 
that horrid spectacle. 



112 ELECTRA. 

^gisth. You have told me, not according to your 
usual custom, that which gives me much pleasure. 

Elect. Go then and enjoy that pleasure, if you so 
delight in it. 

^gisth. I command all be silent, and that the 
palace-gates be opened for all the Mycenians and 
Argians to see, tliat if any of them there be who 
nourishes in his heart any vain hopes, he may 
quit them, seeing the corpse of Orestes, and re- 
ceive our reins, lest he feel the terrible effects of 
my just wrath, should he dare to lift up his spirit 
against me. 

Elect, My lord, I will do my duty, for time hath, 
at last, instructed me to obey my superiors. 



ACT V. SCENE IV. 

jEgisthus, Orestes, Pylades, Electra. 

[Clytemnestra, covered ivith a veil, ivhich JEgistims 
takes to he dead Orestes.~\ 

JEgisth. O Jove ! what sight do I behold ? Ores- 
tes dead before my eyes, whose death I wished for; 
but, if Nemesis will punish me, I say no more. 
Take off that covering which hides him from my 
eyes, that my kinsman may have his tribute of tears 
from me. 

Orest. Lift it up yourself, it is not my business, 
but your's to see and utter your complaints for it. 

JEgisth. Your admonition is just. I will obey, 
do thou call Clytemnestra to me if she be in the 
palace. [To one of Ms Attendants. 

Orest. She is near you, look not elsewhere. 

JEgisth. Woe is me ! Avhat do I behold ? 

[Uncovering the body, 

Orest. Doth she cause your fear ? Do you know 
her? 



ELECTRA. 113 

JEgisth. In whose cursed snares am I fallen ? 

Orest. Did you not perceive, all this while, that 
alive you talked with the dead ? 

jEgisth. Woe is me ! I understand what he hath 
said ; doubtless this can be no other but Orestes 
who speaks to me. 

Orest. Though ' you are a great prophet, yet you 
have been mistaken. 

JEgisth. I am undone, a wretch, but permit me 
to speak a little. 

Elect. Permit him to speak no longer, brother, 
by the gods, nor amuse us by his vain discourses. 
For what is the advantage of a moment's delay to a 
man who is near his death ? But kill him as quick 
as possible, and, when you have killed him, expose 
him to the birds and dogs, the only sepulchre which 
it is fit he should have ; that is the only remedy of 
all my evils. 

Orest. We are not at leisure to meddle with con- 
troversies, but must QiAy consult of methods how 
to hasten thy death. 

^gisth. Why do you lead me into the palace ? 

If that action be good, why needs it darkness, have 

j you not courage to kill me here ? 

I Orest. It is not for you to give your orders, but 

I go in where you killed my father, that in the same 

chamber his murderer may die also. 

j^gisth. Is it by all means necessary, that that 
chamber must see the present and the future miseries 
of the sons of Pelops ? 

Orest. It must see thy miseries, those are the pre- 
dictions which I make concerning thee, and which 
nothing can falsify. 

jEgisth. But you have not boasted your father's 
art. 



* You are a great prophet, yet.] This is founded upon the 
reputation which i£gisthus had of being a prophet. 

I 



114 ELECTRA. 

Orest, You contradict much, and the journey i>: 
retarded, but inarch. 

JEgisth. Thou lead. 
, Orest, You must go before. 

^gisth. Is this because you fear I should escape 

/S, Orest, Not so, but I must take care lest you feel 
any comfort in your death, but that it be grievous to 
you. " There ought immediately to be such a pun- 
ishment inflicted on all who will act contrary to the 
laws, to die sooner ; then such flagitious crimes 
would be less frequent. 

Cho. O race of Atreus ! who after you had suf- 
fered an infinite number of evils for the sake of 
liberty, hast, with difficulty, at last obtained it by 
this present effect of your courage. 

° There ought immediately to he such a punishment inflicted.^ 
This piece cannot end better than by these words of Orestes, 
that this might appear an act of justice, and that the audience 
might not look upon him as an assassin or a parricide, but an ex 
ecutor of divine vengeance, and an instrument which God had 
mnde use of to punish so horrible a crime. 



THE 

TRAGEDY 



OP 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS 



liratnatt^ ^tv^onu. 



Oedipus, King of Thebes. 

High Priest of Jupiter. 

Creon, Brother to Jocasta. 

TiRESiAS, a Prophet. 

A Messenger from Corinth, an old Shepherd. 

Another Shepherd, who had belonged to Laius. 

Chorus of old Theban Priests and other ancient Thebans. 

Jocasta, Widow of Laius and Wife of Oedipus. 

3Iute Persons, 
A Multitude of Theban Youths. 
Oedipus's Children. 

SCENE— Before Oedipus's Palace at Thebes, 

i2 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 



The Argument. — This Tragedy of Oedipus had the title oj 
Tyr annus, a tyrant, or king, added to it in the latter times, but 
for what reason, whether because it excels all his other pieces ; or, 
because of the description it gives us of the miseries of that prince, 
or only to distinguish it from the other Oedipus, called Coloneus, 
it is not certain. The subject of it is as follows : — 

Laius, King of Thebes, having been warned by the oracle that 
his own son should murder him, marry his mother, and succeed 
him in his throne ; to prevent these mischiefs, delivered his son, as 
soon as he ivas born, to one of his servants to be murdered ; but 
the servant moved with compassion slew him not, but gave him to 
a shepherd of Poly bus, king of Corinth, and the shepherd to the 
king. Polybus having no child of his own, received him gra- 
ciously, as did his wife Merope, who brought him up as their own. 
Oedipus going to inquire of the oracle conctrning his birth, in a 
place where three ways meet, chanced to meet and kill his father. 
Whereupon there ensued a dreadful pestilence, which wasted 
Thebes and all the neighbouring country, ivhich was not to cease 
until any one should resolve the cenigma of Sphinx, which many 
tried to do in vain. At last, Oedipus resolved it ; the people of 
Thebes therefore, as a reward of ?iis service, gave him his own 
mother in marriage, whom, not knowing to be so, he accepted ; 
but the truth being found out, he pulled out his own eyes, and his 
wife and mother hanged herself. This story, whether we consider 
the heinousness of the crimes that unhappy prince was guilty of, 
and at the same time how he committed them all merely out of 
ignorance, or those surprising incidents by which they were dis- 
covered, and the fatal consequences that discovery produced to his 
whole house, is confessedly the noblest subject that ever a tragedy 
was composed upon. But yet Aristotle observes one default in it, 
that it was not probable Oedipus should be so long married to Jo- 
casta, and not know after what manner Laius was slain, nor in- 
quire after the author of his murder. But as that subject could 
not subsist without it, Sophocles did not think fit to omit it, but 
placed it out of the action of the tragedy ; and a -poet is only 
answerable for those incidents which enter the composition of his 
fable, not those which go before, or follow after. Wherefore 
Aristotle lays it down as a rule, cap. xvi. of his Poetics. 

" It is absolutely necessary, that among all the incidents which 
" compose the fable, no one be without reason ; or if that be im- 
" possible, it ought to be so ordered, that that which is without 
" reason, be out of the tragedy ; as Sophocles has prudently ob- 
" served in his Oedipus." 



ACT I. SCENE I. 

At the opening of the Scene there appears, in a Court before the 
Palace, an Altar raised to Oedipus, at which are prostrate a 
great Number of Theban Youths, the High Priest of Jupiter, 
with the other Priests of the several Temples, at Sacrifice. At 
a Distance are discovered the two Temples of Pallas, the Altar 
of fsmenus, with Crowds of People round them. 

Oedipus comes out of the Palace to them. 

Oed. ^ O children, young offspring' of ancient 
Cadmus, why are you prostrate at these altars, 
adorned ^ with sacred boughs? The whole city 

* O children, young offspring of ancient Cadmus.^ The The- 
bans are so called, because Cadmus, the son of Agenor, being 
sent to seek his sister Europa, in his travels built Thebes ; and 
afterwards Amphion, son of Jupiter and Antiope, with the sweet- 
ness of his lyre, caused the senseless stones to raise themselves into 
the walls which surrounded the city ; but the truth is, that he 
civilized them with good laws and customs, who before were rude 
and uncivilized. Hence they are called in the Antigone, Ka^^» 

** With sacred boughs.] The ancients when they went into their 
temples to pray, every one carried in his hand branches stuck in 
wool, and sometimes they were crowned with them ; the boughs 
were olive when they prayed or sacrificed to Minerva, when to 
Apollo, laurel ! wherefore Homer says of Chryses, Apollo's priest. 

Of the same use was the M^ioq %srciv^oq mentioned in the A jax, 
which consisted of locks of hair. The Jews had a festival in 
which they carried branches, as they did likewise on all occasions 
of public rejoicing ; as you may read, 1 Maccab. xiii. 51 . '' And 
" entered into it the three-and-twentieth day of the second month, 
" in the hundred seventy and one year with thanksgiving, and 
" branches of palm trees, and with harps, and cymbals, and with 
** viols, and hymns and songs," &c. From them it passed to the 
Greeks, who celebrated the same festival and called it, ocr^oipo^ta, 
oscophoria, uvro t» <pe^tn> roiq Icr^o^q, i. e. from carrying boughs !iuug 
with grapes, which were termed o!r%a». The institution and man- 
ner of it are described at large by Plutarch, in the Life of 
Theseus. 



IIB OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

is filled with smoke of sacrifices, likewise with 
prayers addressed to Apollo, mixed with lamenta- 
tions. I sent no person to demand the cause of 
your affliction, but am come myself for that purpose, 
Oedipus a prince so famous through all the world. 
But thou, old man, speak first, since it is fit a man 
of your age should speak before these youths. Why 
are you prostrate here ? Is it on the account of your 
present or fear of future sufferings ? You shall find 
me always ready to assist you, for surely I were 
hard-hearted, if I did not lament the occasion of 
this concourse. 

High Priest. O thou, who rulest our land ! You 
see the age and the state of us who are prostrate at 
"" your altars : some of whom are too young to go far 
hence, and some too old. These are the principal 
priests of all our temples ; I am a priest of Jove ; 
these a company of youths ; another tribe sit crown- 
ed at the ^ two temples of Pallas, others at the 
prophetic altar ^ of Ismenus. The city, as thou 



^ At your altars.] Gr, ^uixoTa-i, which the old Scholiast calls , 
votoTai, which contain the altar, for thus he describes the temples, 
Naoq and Upov, or the whole edifice, in which are contained Bw/xo?, 
the altar, on which they offered their oblations. 2. Yl^ovuoq, the 
porch before the temple. 8. Te/x,£vo?, where the image stood of 
the chief god. But with submission here was no temple, for the 
altar was raised in the middle of the court, that the action might 
be public and visible. 

^ Two temples of, S^c] Pallas had two temples in Thebes, one 
consecrated to Minerva, "oUk, a Phoenician word, which signifies, 
grand, or, aXaA>to/>tEi/*iK, i. e. the assister ; the other to Minerva, 
^Io-/xr!i'»a, and took its name from Ismenus, a river which ran through 
Thebes. But some say the former was not in Thebes, but in a 
neighbouring village, ^schylus in his seven captains against 
Thebes invokes her by the former name, Iv [xdxoi'KJ'i rs /Aaxai, 

poivoca- OJxa. 

® Altar of Ismenus.] Gr. 'Io-^evs rs ^oi.v\t\cf, o-to5&>, the prophetic 
ashes of Ismenus ; near the river Ismenus there was a temple sacred 
to Apollo, where the priests burnt sacrifices, and consulted the 
flames, and thence delivered prophesies. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 119 

seest thyself, as a tempest-beaten ship, is almost 
sunk, not able to withstand the fury of the raging 
waves. The earth is made ban-en of all her fruits, 
her flocks all perish, and mothers die with their 
infants. The most ciniel pestilence with a de- 
vouring fire ravages the city, and deprives it of 
its inhabitants ; and black Pluto grows rich by our 
mournings and lamentations. Wherefore neither I 
nor these young men present are prostrate at your 
altars, as if we judged you equal with the gods ; 
but we address ourselves to you as to the first 
of men, and as to one who is alone able to ease us 
of those calamities which oppress us, and to recon- 
cile us to the favour of the gods. It is you, who 
coming to this city freed us from the tribute which 
we paid to the cruel goddess, and on that sad occa- 
sion you received no succours but fiiom the gods 
Who inspired you ; wherefore with justice we look 
upon you as our only deliverer. And now, O most 
powerful Oedipus, we all turn our eyes toward you, 
and do beseech you, find out some remedy against 
our evils, either by consulting the Gods, or joining 
in consultation with men ; for I see that wise men 
often find certain succours in the greatest evils. Go 
now, thou best of men, raise up your ruined city, 
pity our sad state, as now this land calls you its 
saviour, by reason of our former deliverance, which 
we owe to you ; for we shall by no means remember 
your former benefits, if, after you have saved our 
lives, you suffer us to perish miserably: but now 
preserve the city, as before you made fortune smile 
on your dejected people ; now be like thyself, re- 
member that ^ the number of subjects makes the 
grandem- of princes, and that without men, fortres- 
ses and ships are entirely useless. 



^ The number of subjects^ S^c] Alcaeus calls men ^v^fn a^^ot, 
martial towers. And Demosthenes says, "Av^^ti; ya,^ Waik, xa< a 
Tji;^»i, the men are the city, not the walls. 



120 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

Oed. Miserable children, I aim not ignorant of the 
^'important cause which brings you here, nor of what 
you wish for ; for weli 1 know those evils which afMict 
you. But your sufferings are nothing in comparison 
of mine, every one of you feels but his own evil, but 
my soul is every way oppressed with its own grief, 
with yours and all my people : think not your cries 
have awaked me from my sleep, but you know how 
many tears I've shed, and that my spirit hath long 
contended with a thousand different thoughts: in 
this sad agitation I have used that remedy which I 
thought most proper to hasten your deliverance ; I 
have sent Creon, the son of Menoeceus, my wife's 
brother, to the temple of Apollo, to inquire of that 
god the way to save this city. And when I consi- 
der the long time he hath been absent, I am sur- 
prised that he is not yet returned, nor can I com- 
prehend the reason of his too long delay. But when 
he comes, then I should be the worst of men if I 
did not execute all that the god commands. 

High Priest. My lord you speak of Creon in a pro- 
per time, for these children inform me that he is near. 

Oed. I wish he comes with ^ as good luck as he 
appears pleasant in his countenance. 

High Priest. He doth so, otherwise he would 
not come with his head crowned with laurel. 

Oed. We shall soon know, for he is near enough 
for us to inquire the truth of him. 



ACT I. SCENE II. 

Oedipus, Creon, High Priest, other Priests, and 

Thebans. 
Oed. O prince, my beloved kinsman, what answer 
do you bring us from the god ? 

2 As good luck.] Gr. h rvxji y^ ra. The particles ra and t5, 
with the ^olicks and Atticks, are common to both masculine and 
feminine genders ; as, KXvcj t5 craATrtyfo?, I bear a trumpet, ts xC*'**?? 
or what cause or necessity. Vet. Schol. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 121 

Cre. A good answer, for I say that our misfor- 
tunes will end if the issue prove right. 

Oed. What speech is that? It gives me neither 
ground to fear or hope. 

Ore. If you will hear the will of God, in the pre- 
sence of these, I am ready to speak it ; otherwise I 
will follow you into the palace. 

Oed. Speak before them all, for I am not so much 
in pain for myself as for my afflicted people. 

Cre. I will speak what I heard of the god. 
Phoebus plainly commanded us to drive pollution 
out of this land, as being nourished in it, and not 
suffer in it one moment the monster which is the ob- 
ject of his wrath. 

Oed. How doth he direct us to pvirge the land ? 

Cre. We must either drive to banishment the mur- 
derer of Laius, or make him expiate with his own 
blodd, the blood which he hath shed. Since Laius's 
blood unrevenged afflicts the land. 

Oed. Who is this whom the oracle hath thus de- 
clared to us hath shed blood ? 

Cre. Laius, my lord, was goveiiior of this land 
before you ruled it. 

Oed. I know it, but I never saw him. 

Cre. It is his death the oracle commands us to 
revenge, by punishing his murderers. 

Oed. But in what part of the earth are they, and 
where will that unsearchable footstep be found out, 
to trace the author of a crime committed so long 
ago? 

Cre. He said here in Thebes ; for that which we 
seek may be found, but that which is neglected, 
easily escapes. 

Oed. Whether did Laius happen to meet this 
death, at home, or in the field, or in another land ? 

Cre. As he travelled out to consult the oracle, 
and never returned home since that moment. 

Oed. Did no messenger or guide, who went with 



122 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 



him in the way return, of whom we may inquire 
and know the truth ? 

Cre. They are all dead, one excepted, who fled 
away for fear, who could tell but one thing of all 
that passed. 

Oed, What was that? For the smallest light that 
one can discern often sufficeth to make an entire 
discovery. 

Cre. He said a company of thieves killed him, 
and that he fell oppressed by numbers. 

Oed. What thief durst venture to commit so great 
a crime, had he not been encouraged by the promise 
of some great reward ? 

Cre. It was supposed they lay in ambush for him ; 
when this prince died, we found no succour in our 
evils. 

Oed. What so great evil then hindered you from 
making search for the murderers of your king ? 

Cre. Sphinx forced us to think only of our present 
evil, and neglect those whose author was more un- 
certain. 

Oed. But I will lay all open from the beginning, 
it is with justice that Apollo ordered us by your 
mouth to revenge this murder ; wherefore ^ you shall 
find me your assistant. I will expiate this land, and 
justify the oracle of the god : and herein it is not for 
any of my relations, but for myself I labour ; I de- 

^ You shall find me your assistant, Sfc] Observe how nicely 
Sophocles manages the character of Oedipus, so as to make him 
appear what a tragedian ought to chuse as a proper subject of his 
tragedy, that is, neither bad nor good in the superlative degree. 
For, as he is here represented as a good prince, and one who omit- 
ted nothing that could any way conduce to the good of his people, 
yet hath he in several instances shewed himself to be imprudent, 
violent, and proud. Yet were not those crimes properly the cause 
of his misfortunes, but his rashness and curiosity ; for Creon tells 
liim hereafter: such tempers as yours are insupportable to them- 
selves. And these are the vices which Sophocles would have us 
correct. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 123 

fend myself from the violence of an assassin : for 
whosoever it was that killed Laius, would imbrue 
likewise his hands in my blood: so that while I 
labour for his vengeance, at the same time I provide 
for my own security. Wherefore quickly, children, 
rise from these seats, taking in your hands those 
sacred boughs, let another gather the people of 
Thebes together here ; while I try all methods. This 
discovery which the god hath made us will either 
end our lives or our evils. 

High Priest. O children, let us rise, since we 

only come to demand what the king hath executed, 

and may Phoebus, who gave those oracles, be our 

saviour and healer of all our evils. 

[ ' Exeunt all hut the Priests who compose the Chorus, 

^ Exeunt all hut the priests who compose the Chorus.] The old 
Scholiast hath mistaken the persons of whom the Chorus of this 
tragedy consists, for he tells us that s^na-iv o le^tvq 'sx^ot^xq ^i oVa^ 
^X6£v • a/xa ^g Kou vtte^ t5 %w§av slvon Ire^a t"jro;t^t]^, and a little after, 

(Tvyt.^'Kvt^tirxi. The high priest goes out, having done that which he 
came to do, and likewise to make room for another actor — accord- 
ing to the king's command come in certain ancient men, of whom 
the Chorus is composed. But he seems to be sufficiently confuted 
by the learned Mr. Dacier, for how is it possible that ancient men 
who arrived on the theatre but the moment that the high priest and 
youths who accompanied him departed, should know the oracle 
which Creon brought from Apollo, and so make reflections so 
suitable to it as they do in the following song? It is most reason- 
able, therefore, that the Chorus should consist of such persons as 
had taken possession of the theatre from the beginning of the ac- 
tion. The words of Sophocles are sufficient to confute this error, 
for he tells us the age and the state of those who are assembled at 
the altar, viz. himself at the head of a select number of Theban 
youths, and the other priests of the several temples; he retires 
after he had performed what belonged to his office, and the youths 
along with him, it being neither suitable to the dignity of the high 
priest nor the capacity of the youths to be of the Chorus. It 
remains, therefore, that the other priests who were present from 
the beginning of the action had heard the oracle, and what else 
passed between Oedipus and Creon, in order to a discovery of tbc 
murderers, must compose the Chorus, until they are joined by 
others of the principal citizens. 



124 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

ACT I. SCENE III. 

Chorus. 

Cho, O divine oracle which came from the rich 
Pythian temple to famous Thebes, my spirits are 
seized with astonishment and fear. O Dehan king*, 
Healer, I worship thy divinity. Tell me, divine 
oracle, what effects of thy beneficence shall we re- 
ceive now, or in process of time ? daughter of golden 
hope. You, O immortal Minerva, daughter of Jove, 
first I invoke ; and Diana, governess of the earth, 
which hath a famous throne in this city, and thou 
Apollo, the Darter, I invoke likewise ; you three re- 
pellers of evil be favourable, since you expelled the 
evil which as a raging fire consumed our city, come 
still to my assistance, O ye gods, I bear numberless 
evils. All the people are feeble and languishing, 
and our oppressed spirits cannot furnish us with the 
least succour ; nor can the fruits of the earth arrive 
to their maturity, neither are the women able to bear 
the throes of child-birth. You may see one fall 
dead upon another, who swifter than a well- winged 
fowl or lightning, roll themselves toward the shore 
of the infernal god, so that the city is daily more 
and more deserted. An infinite number of misera- 
ble abortives lie dead unlamented on the ground ; 
mothers and grandmothers oppressed with evils as- 
sembled from all parts, prostrate themselves at these 
altars, which they regard as a secure port, and de- 
mand of the gods an end of these evils. The prayers 
which they address to Apollo are mixed with cries 
and lamentations. Wherefore, O thou beauteous 
daughter of Jove, espouse our cause, and expel this 
wicked Mars out of this country, either into the vast 
bed of Amphitrite, or into the Euxine sea, which 
dashes against the Thracian rocks. What the night 
leaves unperformed the day accomplishes. O Jupiter, 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. v 125 

who rulest the powers of the purple hghtnings, con- 
sume him with your lightning. O! Lycian king, 
send your invincible arrows from your golden bow 
for our assistance : and thou Diana, enhghten us 
with thy purple rays wherewith thou passest over the 
Lycian mountains. Thee I invoke also, adorned 
with a golden mitre, drinking Bacchus, companion 
of the Moenades, to come to our help, burning with 
your bright torch this most inglorious of all the gods. 



ACT II. SCENE I. 

Oedipus, Chorus, Attendants. 

Oed. ^ You ask, but if you would obtain your re- 
quest, you must listen unto my words, and assist 
yourselves by obeying my decree, and you may ob- 
tain a remedy against your evils. Mine, who here- 
tofore never thought of speaking of this murder, nor 
could I be suspected of having any share in it. I 
would not have enterprized to search the author of 
this crime, unless I had some certain signs how to 
discover him : but now, since I am of the number of 
the citizens, I decree to all you Thebans, that w^ho- 

^ You ask, but if you would obtain your request.] Oedipus 
being resolved to use all means in his power to discover the mur- 
derer of Laius, first encourageth all his subjects to assist him, by 
telling them, that as he was the cause of the pestilence, if he were 
discovered and expelled, that would cease. Wherefore he lays 
his strict commands, that whoever knew where he was, should in- 
stantly discover him, and promises the discoverer both a reward 
and thanks for his service. And to encourage the murderer to 
discover himself, he says he shall suffer nothing but banishment 
out of the city, a small punishment for so great a crime, and only 
equal with that which the Romans called minor capitis diminutio, 
which is as Paul. Jurisc. expresseth it, cum amittimus civitatem, et 
libertatem retinemus. But if nothing will prevail upon them to 
discover him, he lays the utmost curse upon him, viz. that he 
'jhould be driven from all thinus common. 



126 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

soever of you knows him who slew Laius, the son 
of Labdacus, that he discover him to me. But if 
he who committed the crime fears to come and ac- 
cuse himself, I shall free him from that fear, he shall 
suffer no other punishment but exile. But if any 
one knew any otlber his murderer, of any other land, 
let him not be silent, for I will give him thanks, and 
a reward proportionable to so great a service. But 
if you will still be silent, and any one out of fear for 
his friend or himself holds his peace, then hear what 
I shall do. I forbid that man, whosoever he is, to 
be received into this land, whose government I pos- 
sess, to speak to any body, or to be made a commu- 
nicant of the prayers and sacrifices of the gods, or- 
to ^ partake of the holy water : but I command that 
all should chase him from their houses, and pursue 
him as the miscreant who pollutes this land, as the 
Pythian oracle of the god has manifestly declared to 
me. And so I will accomplish the will of the god, 
and revenge the dead, and I curse him that did it, 
whether he being one conceals himself, or if he had 
his accomplices, to drag a miserable life. And I 
beseech the gods, that I may suffer the sad effects of 
those imprecations, if the murderer be in my palace 
and I am conscious to it. And I beseech you all to 
execute all those decrees, both for your love of me, 
and the respect which you owe to the god, and for 
the compassion which you are obliged to have for 
your country, which is so barren, and so miserably 
destroyed. For if the gods did not positively de- 
mand vengeance, yet were it not convenient for you 
to see this murderer pass impunished, and not to 

^ Partake of the holy water.] The ancients had a custom, 
that before they went to sacrifice, all those who partook thereof 
should wash their hands, and the water in which they washed was 
called xE^vt^/, and with this water likewise they were afterwards 
sprinkled by the priests; on both which accounts the poets ust 
Xiifi^ltd^on instead of U^a, p«{«»v, to offer sacrifice. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 127 

pursue the murderer of so great a man, and your 
king. At present I possess tbe throne of which he 
was seized ; the queen his spouse hath raised me to 
her bed, and chosen me for her husband, and his 
children hkewise would have been mine if he had 
had any. But since the powers denied him those 
blessings, now that misfortune hath oppressed him, 
I will supply their place and labour for him as for 
my own father. I will try every method to find out 
the author of the murder of this descendant of ancient 
Agenor. And to those which do not obey my 
orders, I pray to the gods that the land may refuse 
her fruits, and that their wives may die without 
children, and that themselves may die such a death 
or a worse than threatens them. But to us, who 
with all our hearts consent to what I have said, may 
justice be an assistant, and may the eternal gods 
favour us vdth their protection. 

Cho, My lord, as you have bound me by a curse 
to discover the murderer, I declare I neither killed 
him, nor do I know who killed him : but to resolve 
that question belongs to him that sent the oracle. 

Oed. You have spoke right, but ™no man can 
force the gods to speak what they will not. 

Cho, I have still a second advice to give you. 

Oed. And if you have after that a third, do not 
omit to speak it. 

Cho. "King Tiresias hath the same knowledge 

" No man can force the gods.] Oedipus makes this answer to 
the Chorus, to prevent the fiction of their sending again to the 
oracle, lest it should cause too long a delay in the drama, which 
to the audience would taste but insipid : nor was it necessary, for 
it is plain that the same oracle which declared the cause of the 
pestilence, did likewise point out the murderer, though Creon, for 
fear of the king's displeasure, would not discover it. 

" King Tiresias.] The Chorus calls him king, because of his 
prophetic spirit, not for any civil power which he possessed. It 
may not be improper to insert here a passage out of Dr. Potter's 
Archaeol. Graec. which fully justifies the Chorus in giving Tiresias 



128 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

with Apollo in this affair ; and by consulting him 
you may discover what ygu search for. 

Oed, Nor was I negligent in that affair ; but, by 
the advice of Creon, I sent two messengers for him, 
and it is a wonder why he is absent so long. 

Cho. There are other reports concerning his death, 
but they are frivolous and vain. 

Oed. What are they ? For I weigh every thing I 
hear. 

Cho. He is said to have been slain by some tra- 
vellers. 

Oed. And I too heard that, but can find none 
who can say he saw the murder committed. 

Cho. But though he be a little fearful of the dis- 
covery, he will not attend the effect of your impre- 
cations. 

Oed. Who does not fear to act the crime, will not 
fear the imprecations. 

Cho, But he who discovers him is come, for they 



this title. '* It has been the custom of all nations to pay a pecu- 
*• liar honour to their priests; which was partly done out of re- 
" spect to the gods, whom they represented, and partly because 
" they did not pray for a blessing on themselves, their own fami- 
" lies, and friends only, but on whole communities, on the whole 
" state of mankind. They were accounted mediators between 
" gods and men, being obliged to offer the sacrifices and prayers 
" of the people to their gods — and on the other side B^y.vivevlcd 
" voi^a, ^suv uv^^uTToiq, deputed by the gods to be their interpreters 
" to men, to instruct them how to pray for themselves, what it 
*' was most expedient to ask, what sacrifices, what vows, what 
" gifts, would be most acceptable to the gods; and, in short, to 
•* teach them all the ceremonies used in divine worship. — On this 
" account the priests were honoured with the next place to their 
** kings and chief magistrates ; and in many places wore the same 
" habits. These were often consecrated to the priesthood. Thus 
Anius, in Virgil, was king of Delos, and priest of Apollo. 

" Rex Anius, Rex idem hominum Phcehique saoerdos." 
The same author proves by a passage in Plutarch, that uvliyfoTroi 
h ro rviq U^uavvvtq a|i&/|i/,a 'iv^oc to t^? /3ccirtAi»af, the dignity of priest* 
was equal to that of kings. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 129 

bring hither a divine prophet, who alone of all men 
speaks nothing but the truth. 



ACT II. SCENE II. 

Oedipus, Tiresias, Chorus, 6fC. 

Oed, Wise Tiresias, who knowest all things which 
can be known, who knowest the secrets of the hea- 
vens and of the earth's dark womb ; though you 
are deprived of the day's light, yet you cannot fail 
of knowing the evils in which this city is plunged, 
of which, O king, we regard thee the only saviour 
and helper. If our messengers have not already 
informed thee, Phoebus has sent word to us that 
our freedom from this disease would only be ob- 
tained by searching diligently the murderers of 
Laius, and either putting them to death, or expel- 
ling them out of the kingdom. But thou conceal 
not from us the truth, but consult the voice of birds, 
make use of all ways of divination, deliver thyself 
and the city, deliver me, instruct us how to appease 
the blood which cries against us ; we rely on thee, 
and remember that to succour the miserable is the 
noblest of labours. 

Tir, " Alas ! alas ! How often doth knowledge 
make us unhappy ? For what I know now undoes 
me : I should not have come hither. 

Oed. What is the reason that you come hither in 
such amazement ? 



° Alas! alas! How often, &fc.'] Tricliiiius says, that Tiresias 
begins with this sad exclamation, as fearing some mischief from 
Oedipus, if he should discover him to be the cause of the pesti- 
lence, but this doth not agree with what he says afterwards. — 

» yoi^ (At f/,oTpu 'm^oq yi as TnosTv 

It is not my fate to die by thee ; and"^ 

WTTUfA, a TO crov dnucK; 'STfoa-wTrov. 

I go hence, nol fearing your face. 



130 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

Tir. Dismiss me hence; your evils and mine 
likewise will be more supportable if you will follow 
my counsel. 

Oed, What you say is unjust, and in refusing to 
answer us, you refuse to succour this city which 
brought you up. 

Tir. I see that your demand will plunge you into 
the worst of evils, therefore force me not to speak. 

Cho, Nay, by the gods, do not return so ; since 
we all, as suppliants, adore you. 

Tir. Yes ; but you do not all understand what 
you do ; but I by no means will discover the evils 
which environ you, as I shall do if I speak what 
I know. 

Oed. What say you? Though you know the 
truth, will you conceal it ? Can you betray us, and 
suffer your country entirely to be destroyed ? 

Tir. It is for your sake no less than my own that 
I am silent. Why do you rashly accuse me ? If I 
should speak, you would not listen to me. 

Oed. Thou worst of fellows, thou wouldest en- 
rage the hardest rocks ; wilt thou tell us nothing ? 
Art thou so inexorable and morose in thy anger ? 

Tir. You have upbraided me ^vith my anger, but 
consider not your own, therefore you insult me. 

Oed. Who would not be angry to hear these 
words, and to see how dishonourably you treat your 
country ? 

Tir. The evils which I see will come to pass of 
themselves, though I conceal them. 

Oed. Therefore you ought to tell me what will 
come to pass. 

Tir. I will not speak any farther, be you trans- 
ported with never sO fierce anger. 

Oed. Therefore, thus enraged as I am, I can 
neither regard measures, nor dissemble any thing. 
It appears to me that you were an accomplice in 
this crime, though your hands be free from the very 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 131 

fact; but, if you had your eyes, I should accuse 
you as the only author of it. 

Tir. True, but I declare that you are obnoxious 
to those imprecations which you have pronounced ; 
and that, from this present day, you are neither per- 
mitted to speak to me nor your subjects, but that 
we ought all to look upon you as the monster which 
draws down upon this land the wrath of heaven. 

Oed, With what impudence darest thou invent 
this falsehood? do you think to escape my resent- 
ment? 

Tir. I do ; for truth is stronger than injustice. 

Oed, Who discovered this truth ? not your art. 

Tir. You did, for you forced me unwillingly to 
speak. 

Oed. What? speak again that I may understand 
you better. 

Tir. Do you not understand yet? or do you 
tempt me to speak ? 

Oed. It is not to tempt you. But speak again. 

Tir. I say that you are the murderer of this man 
whose murderer you seek. 

Oed. Do you glory in the affront you put upon 
me, and again repeat it ? 

Tir. And what if I should speak all that I know ? 
How much more then would you be enraged ? 

Oed. Say as much as you please, it will be all 
said in vain. 

Tir. I say that you, unknown to yourself, 
do converse criminally with your nearest rela- 
tion, and see not into what an abyss of misery you 
are plunged. 

Oed. And dost thou think that I will always bear 
this, and suffer thee to triumph ? 

Tir. Yes ; for truth hath ever the greatest power. 

Oed. It hath ; but truth is not in thee, since thou 
art no less blind in the eyes of thy mind than in 
the eves of thv bodv. 

K 2 



132 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

Tir. But thon art a wretch to upbraid me witli 
these things, with which there is none of these pre- 
sent who will not upbraid thee soon. 

Oed. Thy life is only preserved by thy darkness 
in which thou art plunged, and but for that, this is 
the last time that ever any should behold thee. 

Tir. It is not my fate to fall by you, for Apollo 
is my safeguard. 

Oed. Are these Creon's inventions or yours ? 

Tir. Creon has done you no injury, but you 
alone have injured yourself. 

Oed. O wealth and power, and art excelling all 
arts, how dost thou expose us to envy ? Since, for 
the sake of this crown, which the people, with one 
consent, have placed upon my head, Creon, my 
once faithful friend, hath laid a snare for me, and 
stirred up against me that old enchanter, that im- 
postor who is clear-sighted only in his interest, but 
is blind in his art. Wherefore, say how is it possi- 
ble that you should be a true prophet ? When that 
horrid monster. Sphinx, destroyed the land, why 
did you not find out some way to deliver it ? And 
to explain that enigma was not for any ordinary 
person, but there needed a prophetic spirit which 
you have not, and which the gods never gave thee ; 
but I, p Oedipus, an ignorant person, came and ex- 
plained the enigma with my ingenuity ; nor did I 
find it out by consulting birds. I did it, whom you 
attempt to banish, thinking to be Creon's principal 
favourite; but this plot may fall upon your own 
head and his who was the author of it : and, had 
I not some reverence for your age, I would make 



P /, Oedipus^ an ignorant persoti.] This Oedipus says of 
himself, through modesty; whereas, indeed, his wit, which he 
discovered in solving the enigma of Sphinx, grew into a proverb, 
as we find by the words of Davus, in Terence: — 

Davus sum, non Oedipus. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 133 

thee by sad experience know the effects of your 
wicked designs. 

Cho. Both the words of Tiresias, and those of 
Oedipus, seem to us who have considered them 
with cooler reason, to be only spoke in anger. 
This is no proper time to speak our private resent- 
ments, but to consider how we may best solve the 
oracle of the god. 

Tir. Though you are king, it is but just that I 
answer you with the same freedom which you use 
in speaking to me. I am not your subject, but 
Apollo's, neither will I employ Creon to protect me ; 
but (I say) since you have reproached me as blind, 
you yourself see, but see not in what evils you are 
plunged, neither where you live, nor with whom 
you dwell. But do you know of whom you are 
born ? And do you not know that you are an ene- 
my to your nearest relations, both those who are 
dead, and those on the earth ? The bitter curses on 
both sides, which you derive from your father and 
your mother, drive you out of the earth, who though 
you see now, hereafter you will be plunged in dark- 
ness ; and in what place will not you make your 
cries be heard? What mountain will not echo your 
complaints? when you perceive what an unhappy 
marriage you have sailed into, after a prosperous 
voyage. You know not yet of all your evils, which 
will put you in the number of your children ; and 
now reproach Creon and me as much as you please 
for this freedom ; but no more criminal wretch than 
thyself Avill ever meet his deserved fate. 

Oed, Must I then hear this speech from him? 
Begone to perdition quickly ; begone from our palace, 
away. 

Tir. I would not have come if you had not called 
me. 

Oed. I did not know you would talk such foolish 



134 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

things, otherwise I would not have called you hither 
in such haste. 

Tii\ You accuse me of folly, but your father 
thought me wise. Vg^'^'^S' 

Oed. Who ! stay. Who was my father ? 

Tir. This same day will give you both your birth 
and your death. 

Oed. How mysterious and dark are all your words ! 

Tir, Therefore you are the properest to explain 
them. 

Oed. You reproach me with a thing which made 
all my grandeur. 

Tir. It is that grandeur which has mined you. 

Oed. But, if I have preserved the city, my own 
safety is of small importance to me. 

Tir. I go hence ; and thou, boy, lead me. 

Oed. Let him lead you aw ay ; your presence is 
here but importunate, and you only trouble us; 
when you are gone we shall be easy. 

Tir. I go away, since I have said those things on 
the account of which I came hither ; nor do I fear 
your face, for it is not in your power to kill me. I 
tell thee, then, that this man whom a while ago 
thou didst pursue with threats and decrees, as the 
murderer of Laius, is here. He passes for a stran- 
ger, but he will soon appear to be a home-bom 
Theban ; nor will his fortune give him much delight, 
for, blind and poor, he will be a wanderer in a 
strange land. [Shewing his sceptre, the ensign of his 
royal dignity.'] He will appear to be a brother and 
father to his children, a son and husband of her 
of whom he was bom, his father's son and murderer. 
Now retire into your palace, and there think on what 
I have said ; and if that you shall find me to have 
spoken false, then you may say that I am no 
prophet. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 135 

ACT II. SCENE III. 

Chorus, Strophe I. 

'^ Who is he whom the prophesying Delphic rock 
accused to have committed murder, the worst of 
crimes, with his bloody hands ? Whosoever he is, 
it is time for him with the swiftest racer's speed to 
take his flight, for the son of Jupiter, armed with 
fire and lightning, is prepared to assail him. And 
the cruel inevitable fates pursue him. 

Antistrophe I. 

For the oracle of snowy Parnassus declared that 
every one should search this man who hides himself. 
The wretch traverses the forests, searches out the 
dens and crevices of the rocks, he wanders alone in 
the fields as a bull, to evade the eifect of the oracles 



^ Who is he whom the prophesying y <^c.] The Chorus, being 
willing to favour Oedipus, nor yet presuming to accuse Tiresias of 
falsehood, speaks in a doubtful manner, wondering of whom 
Apollo should speak ; and because Parnassus, a very steep rocky 
mountain, was near Delphi, and thereon Apollo's oracle, therefore 
he calls it the Delphic rock. 

It was supposed to be in the very middle of the earth, for which 
reason the oracles are a little after called, ra iJt.£a-6[ji,(p(x,Xoc ya.<i ixau- 
Ittx, And the city of Delphi, near which this oracle stands, is 
called Orbis Umbilicus. Hear Alex, ab Alex, on this subject, 
lib. vi. cap. 2. Delphi orbis umbilicus commune omnium oracu- 
lum in alto Parnasso, urbs non moenibus, sed abruptis rupibus 
munita, arduo ac difficili ascensu. Templum Apollinis cultu, et 
religione longe celebratissimum intra urbem non manu extructa, 
sed nativa prcecipitia munivere. The reason of Delphi being 
called the navel of the earth, is founded upon a fable, thai Jupi- 
ter ouce, having let fly two eagles, one from the east and another 
from the west, they met each other just at Delphi; in memory 
whereof they consecrated in the temple two eagles, and a navel 
upon which they stood, made of white stone, with a riband hang- 
ing from it instead of a navel-string. Strabo assures us that this 
is in the very middle of Greece, which, perhaps, might occasion 
the fable. 



136 OE£)IPUS TYRANNUS. 

delivered from the middle of the earth, but they are 
immortal and inevitable. 

Strophe II. 

The wise prophet comes to disturb us vv^ith dismal 
exphcations, neither to be denied nor yet rejected. 
What shall I say ? I am perplexed with doubts, 
from hope to fear alternately I am tossed, nor do I 
see what can determine me, for I never heard that 
there was any difference between the son of Labda- 
cus and the son of Polybus ; therefore, why should 
I, by violent conjectures, make the sense of the 
oracle fall upon Oedipus, and revenge upon him a 
murder of which we know not the author ? 

x4.NTISTR0PHE II. 

Yet, Jupiter and Apollo are wise, and know all 
the actions of men ; but that a prophet has more 
knowledge from the gods than another, it is not cer- 
tainly determined ; one man may excel another in 
prudence, yet they may all be deceived ; but, before 
I see a certain oracle, I will not accuse Oedipus. 
This is certain, that a horrid monster ravaged this 
land, and we then were witnesses of his wisdom, 
for which the city was well disposed towards him, 
and, therefore, they shall never charge this crime on 
him by my consent. 



ACT III. SCENE I. 

Cieon, Chorus, Attendants, 

Cre, Thebans, I came to you, for I could not 
support the terrible news which I heard, that king 
Oedipus accuses me of the blackest of treasons. If, 
in a time so calamitous as this, he thinks I have 
conspired against him, or went about to defame him, 
I desire not a longer life, for an accusation of so bad 
a nature will bring the greatest of scandals upon me, 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 137 

for it will make me pass for a wicked man among 
the citizens, among you, and all my friends. 

C/io. It was only his violent anger that suggested 
to him that suspicion, it was not the real persuasion 
of his mind. 

Ore. Whose assertion was it that the prophet, 
persuaded by my counsel, spreads false reports of 
him? 

Cho. It was said ; but I know not upon what 
design. 

Cre. "" Did my accuser speak with a bold presence 
and sound mind ? 

Cho. I do not know% for the actions of princes are 
above my reach ; but, see, himself comes out of the 
palace. 



ACT III. SCENE II. 

Oedipus, Chorus, Creon. 
Oed. Here, you ; how came you hither? Or have 
you the impudence to come into my palace, w^ho art 
certainly the murderer of Laius ; who hast certainly 
conspired against me to rob me of my crovm ? Speak, 
by the gods, did you observe any cowardice or folly 
in me, that you dare to enterprise so hardy an at- 
tempt ? Or, did you think that I should not at last 
discover your conspiracy, and that I would not pre- 
vent it ? But, is it not the greatest folly to aspire to 
the throne without the favour of the people and 
friends, which is always obtained by their favour 
and abundance of wealth ? 



' Did my accuser speak with a bold presence, <^c.] i.e. Was 
he in his senses ; as a person in his senses hath a sound mind and 
stedfast eye, so one besides himself hath a distracted mind and 
wandering- eye. 



138 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

Cre. But, how did I do it ? ' Let me speak in my 
turn. When you have heard, then judge me your- 
self. 

Oed. You are very eloquent, but I do not think 
fit to hear you : it is enough I have found you my 
grievous enemy. 

Cre. But, pray hear first what defence I shall 
make. 

Oed. Do not tell me that you are not a perfidious 
man. 

Cre, If you think that blind obstinacy is of any 
advantage to you, you are mistaken. 

Oed, If you think to conspire against your kins- 
man, and not suffer a punishment equal to your 
crime, you are mistaken. 

Cre. I agree vi^ith you ; but inform me v^^hat in- 
jury you have suffered from me. 

Oed. Did you not persuade me to send to that 
venerable prophet ? 

Cre. I did ; and still you give the same counsel. 
. Oed, How long time since Laius 

Cre, Was what ? For I do not understand you. 

Oed, Was assassinated and slain. 

Cre, A great many years ago ; which cannot 
easily be reckoned. 

Oed, Was then this prophet conversant in this art? 

Cre, His vrisdom then was, as his honour, great. 

Oed, Did he never make mention of me in those 
times 1 

Cre, Never ; in my presence. 

• Let me speak in my turn.'] The character which Sophocles 
gives Creon is directly opposite to that of Oedipus ; for, as the 
latter is represented precipitate and violent in his accusation, so 
the other is wise and moderate, while by arguments drawn ex im- 
probabili, and, at last, by a solemn oath, he endeavours to acquit 
himself of the suspicion of having acted falsely for his own 
interest. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 139 

Oed. But was no search made for the murderer ? 

Cre. There was ; but we never heard of him. 

Oed. Why, therefore, then, did not tliis wise pro- 
phet say what he doth to-day ? 

Cre. I do not know ; as to things which I under- 
stand not, I love to hold my peace. 

Oed. But you know what concerns yourself, and 
would do well to speak it. 

Cre. Speak what? I will never deny what I know. 

Oed. Unless the prophet had conspired with you, 
he had never accused me with the murder of Laius. 

Cre. Whether he accused you or not, yourself 
knows it, for I want to learn of you the same things 
which you would learn of me. 

Oed. Demand whatsoever you will of me, I shall 
never be proved the murderer. 

Cre. Have you not married my sister ? 

Oed. I cannot deny what you say. 

Cre. And is it not as true that you divide with her 
the supreme power ? 

Oed. She hath an absolute power over me, and I 
grant her whatsoever her wish can form. 

Cre. And is it not true, that, after you both, I 
possess the highest honours ? 

Oed. It is that which makes thy treachery still 
more conspicuous. 

Cre. You would change your sentiments, if you 
would give me liberty to speak. Consider, is there 
any man in the world who would rather be a king, 
with all those fears and terrors which accompany a 
kingdom than to live in the bosom of rest, with all 
the surety of the condition of a person which, by 
another name, possesseth the same power ? For me, 
it is not the name of a king which I am ambitious 
of, but to do the actions, and that ought to be the 
ambition of every wise man. Now, without being 
exposed to the least danger, I receive of you all 
those graces which my wish can form, and if I were 



140 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS, 

a king myself, I should be obliged to do many things 
against my will. How then should a kingdom be 
more desirable to me than an unenvied power ? I 
am not so imprudent as to prefer the dangerous 
grandeur of a king to an estate that is more safe and 
advantageous. Now I please all the world ; all the 
world make court to me, and they wlio would ap- 
proach your throne first address themselves to me ; 
it is through my hands all the graces pass which you 
grant; why then should I slight all these advanta- 
ges, and desire to obtain a kingdom ? One who is 
so prudent as to consider this, could not be so un- 
wise ; and I not only never would have had those 
thoughts, but I never would have suffered it in any 
other ; and, for a confirmation of the truth of what 
I have said, go to the Pythian oracle, and inquire if 
I have not faithfully declared to you all which it 
answered me; and if you shall find that I have 
formed any design in conjunction with the prophet, 
you shall not kill me by one single vote, but mine 
shall likewise follow yours ; but, pray do not privately 
condemn me for a blind suspicion, for, if it is not 
just rashly to take bad men for good, it is still less 
so to take good men for bad ; for I tell you that to 
deprive one's self of a good friend is to cast away 
one's own life, which is most dear to us. But, in 
time you will know all these things more plainly, 
since time only proves who is a just man, and you 
may know a wicked man in one day. 

Cho. My lord, he hath spoke to you very wisely, 
though your care were never so just to prevent your 
ruin; for those who judge with too much haste 
never judge with certainty. 

Oed, When any privately lies in ambush against 
me, I ought to be cautious to avoid his snares ; if, 
at such a time, I suffer sloth to creep upon me, he 
will accomplish his wicked enterprise, and I shall 
not be able to defend myself. 



I 



OEDIPUS tyranNus. 141 

Ore. What therefore would you do ; send me out 
of the land ? 

Oed. No ; but you shall die. 

Cre. But you must first shew what is my crime. 

Oed. You talk as if you would not submit to me. 

Cre. Because you act unjustly. 

Oed. I act for my own security. 

Cre. So ought Llikewise to act for mine. 

Oed. But you are a wicked man. 

Cre. But what if these are the dictates of blind 
passion ? 

Oed, Yet even then I may use my power. 

Cre. No ; unless you use it lawfully. 

Oed. O city ! city ! 

Cre. The city is for my interest, not yours only. 

Cho. Cease, ye princes ; Jocasta comes out of 
the palace in a fit juncture to determine this strife. 



ACT III. SCENE III. 
Jocasta, Creon, Oedipus, Chorus. 

Jo. Miserable princes, why have you engaged 
yourselves in this unseasonable contest? Are you 
not ashamed, while the kingdom is on the very brink 
of ruin, to quarrel about your private resentments ? 
Go into the palace, and you, Creon, retire to yours, 
and make not light misfortunes greater. 

Cre. Madam, Oedipus, your husband, treats me 
with the greatest injustice, threatening either to drive 
me to banishment or to put me to a shameful death. 

Oed. I own it, madam, for I have discovered a 
conspiracy which he had formed against me. 

Cre. May the worst of evils fall upon me, and I 
pray to the gods that I may feel the effects of the 
most bitter imprecations, if I am guilty of those 
crimes with which he accuses me. 



142 OEDIPUS TYjaANNUS. 

Jo, O, by the gods, Oedipus belieye him, have 
respect for the oath by which he is bound. Then 
have some regard for me likewise, and for all these 
who are present. 

Cho. I conjure you, my lord, listen to the queen's 
intreaties. 

Oed, What would you have me do ? Submit to 
him? 

Cho. Believe a prince that was neither reckoned 
disobedient before, and who now hath made him- 
self liable to the most horrible imprecations. 

Oed. Do you know well what you demand of me ? 

Cho. I know. 

Oedi What is it then ? Speak. 

Cho. That you would not ignominiously reject 
your friend upon a dark suspicion. 

Oed. But consider, that while you make that de- 
mand, you seek my death or banishment. 

CJu). I call the sun, the first of all the gods, to 
be my witness, that I wish without God, without 
friends, I may die the worst of deaths, if I have 
any such thought. But my soul is overwhelmed in 
sadness to see my country miserably perish, and I 
cannot bear that those evils in which it is plunged, 
be still aggravated by dissensions. 

Oed. Let him, therefore, go, and if I must die, 
or dishonourably be expelled out of this land, it is 
for your sake, whom I respect, I grant him this 
grace, not for his ; for he, wheresoever he is, will 
be the object of my aversion. 

Cre. It is plain you are hard to be prevailed on to 
grant me pardon ; but when your passion is over, 
then you will be full of giief ; aild such tempers are 
always most uneasy to themselves. 

Oed. Will you not be gone out of my presence 
and let me alone ? 

Cre. I will go; you never knew me; but these 
gtill continue my friends. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 143 

Cho. Madam, why do you delay to take him into 
the palace? 

Joe. When I shall know the cause of this disor- 
der, I will. 

Cho. They had words about a very uncertain ru- 
mour, and often taunted each other for an unjust 
suspicion. 

Joe. Of one against the other ? 

Cho. Even so. 

Joe. What were the words ? 

Cho. While the land is thus afflicted we ought 
to cease where they did. 

Oed. You see that with all your wisdom you be- 
tray my interest, and fill my mind with sadness. 

Cho. My lord, I often said, and still I say, that 
I must be very unwise and rash, if I were capable 
to abandon you ; who came and rescued my dear 
country from numberless calamities, and now, if 
you can, let your princely wisdom again preserve us. 

Joe. By the gods tell me why you are so trans- 
ported with anger. 

Oed. I'll tell you, madam, for I respect you above 
all others in the world. It is on account of a con- 
spiracy which Creon had formed against me. 

Joe. Declare his crime, if you accuse him upon 
sure grounds. 

Oed. He says that I am the murderer of Laius. 

Joe. Doth he speak it from his own knowledge ? 
Or did he hear it of any other \ 

Oed. He hath suborned this wicked prophet, with 
whom he spreads those reports, which coming from 
him will pass for truths, and all the people will 
speak freely against me. 

Joe. Now, my lord, pass by what hath been said 
concerning yourself, and hear me, and learn that 
there is none skilful in the prophetic art. I will give 
you some certain proofs of it. Formerly the oracle 
declared to Laius, (I say not that oracle was de- 



144 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

livered by ^ Apollo himself, but by one of his priests,) 
that it was his fate to die by his child, which should 
be born of him and me, yet it was the general re- 
port some foreign thieves murdered him in a place 
" where three ways meet. Having begot the child, 
there passed not three days before he bound his feet 
together, and delivered him to his servant to be ex- 
posed on an inaccessible mountain. And there you 
see that Apollo neither brought it to pass that he 
should be his father's murderer ; but that the fears of 
Laius to die by his son were all groundless. Yet these 
were the predictions of the oracle. Wherefore 
do not make yourself uneasy, for God himself vnll 
easily discover those things which he finds do need 
discovery. 

Oed. My Jocasta, how hath thy words plunged 
me into sad grief, and raised a tumult in my spirit ? 

Joe. Whence ariseth this tumult in your breast, 
my lord ? 

Oed. I thought I heard you say, that Laius was 
slain in a place where three ways meet. 

Joe. This was the report then, nor as yet doth it 
cease. 

Oed. And where is the place where that misfor- 
tune befel him ? 

Joe. The country is called Phocis, where the way 
which leads from Delphi meets with that which 
leads from Daulia. 

Oed. And at what time did this action happen ? 



* Apollo himself.] Jocasta would not directly charge the false- 
hood upon Apollo, but on his priests, who she thinks might have 
been corrupted. 

" Where three ways meet.] iEschylus, in his Oedipus, mentions 
the same place where Laius was killed, for he supposeth the shep- 
herd to say, 

Sp^tr?? KiXiv^a T^io^ov, iv^a crvfA.QoXocq 
Tptuv keMv^ov 'rrolvlciauv vifjuii^ofxEv. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 145 

Joe. A little before you ascended the throne of 
this realm this was publicly reported in the city. 

Oed. Great Jove ! What have you resolved to do 
with me ? 

Joe, What thought is this you revolve in your mind ? 

Oed. Do not question me, but tell me what was 
Laius's stature, and what his age ? 

Joe. He was large, his hair began to grow white, 
and his shape, my lord, differed not much from yours. 

Oed. Woe is me, a wretch ; I have made myself 
liable to the sadest imprecations, while I knew it not. 

Joe. How say you, my lord ? I cannot behold 
you without hon'or. 

Oed. I very much fear lest the prophet be too 
clear sighted ; but you will make a further discovery 
if you can tell me one tlung yet. 

Joe. Though I am seized with some horror, yet 
what you ask, if I am able, I will tell you. 

Oed. Did Laius take this journey with a small 
train, or had he a numerous retinue, as kings usually 
have ? 

Joe. They "" were, in all, five, a herald was com- 
prised in the same number, and Laius had but one 
chariot. 

Oed. Alas ! alas ! my misfortune is now too plain. 
Who was it who brought you this news ? 

Joe. A certain domestic who returned ; the only 
one who preserved his life. 

* Were in all Jive. 1 Seneca hath been guilty of an error in 
departing from the plainness of the ancient manners, and too strict- 
ly adhering to those of his own time. For he supposeth it absurd 
that a king should go out with so small a number, and therefore 
that a great part of Laius's retinue missed their road, and that 
only a small number remained with him. 

Oed. Freguensne turba regium cinxit latus ? 
Joe. Plures fefeUit error ancipitis vice, 
Paticos Jidelis currihus junxit labor. 

Ingenious contrivance ! to suppose a great number to lose their 
way, in a road as plain as from London to Windsor. Dacier^ 



146 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

Oed. Is he now in the palace? 

Joe. No, for, from the time he came from thence, 
and saw you possessing the empire, and Laius slain, 
he beseeched me to send him into the fields to over- 
look my flocks, that he might not have the grief to 
live in the city. I granted him that request. But 
his service which he did me deserved some greater 
favour. 

Oed. Cause him to come to me immediately. 

Joe. He is hard by. But why do you desire that * 

Oed. I fear I have said too much, therefore 1 
would see him. 

Joe. He will be here. But am I not worthy, m\ 
lord, to know the cause of your grief 

Oed. I will not conceal from you my fears. Aftei 
the obligations I owe you, to whom should I rather 
than to you discover my secrets in this my disma! 
state ? Polybus, king of Corinth, was my father, 
and my mother was queen Merope, a Dorick. 1 
was looked upon as the greatest of all the citizens 
until this accident happened to me ; which, though 
surprising, yet did not deserve all the diligence I 
used in bringing it to light. A certain man, in a 
banquet, full of wine, calls me the supposed son of 
Polybus. Being grieved for that reproach, I scarce 
contained myself that whole clay. The next day, 
going to my father and mother, I inquired of them 
my birth. They were both very sorry for that re- 
proach which he cast upon me. And, though I 
loved them with much tenderness, that injury still 
perplexed me, and gave me a strong suspicion. I 
stole out of the city, unknown to my father and 
mother, went to the Pythian oracle, and Phoebus 
did not think fit to answer precisely to my demand ; 
but declared other miserable and unhappy accidents 
which would befall me ; that I must unlawfully con- 
verse with my mother, that I should shew to the 
world an unhappy offspring which would fill them 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 147 

with horror, and that I should be the murderer of 
my father. Being terrified with that answer, I 
avoided returning to Corinth, and fled hither, ^ con- 
ducting myself by the stars, and endeavoured to 
find out a country whence I might be sure those 
terrible things which the oracle threatened would 
never come to pass ; and in travelling I came into 
the same place wherein you say this king was slain. 
I will not conceal from you, madam, the smallest 
circumstance. When I was in this place, where the 
way divides itself into three parts, a herald and a 
man mounted upon a chariot drawn by beautiful 
horses met me. The charioteer and the master 
would thrust me out of the way by force. Being 
vexed at this aflfront, I smote the charioteer who 
turned me out of the way ; and, as this old man 
sees me coming up to his chariot, he gave me two 
strokes on my head ; nor did he suffer a punishment 
equal to this audacity. But, with one stroke of my 
staff, I tumbled him down fi'om the middle of his 
chariot, he lies dead at my foot, and then I killed 
all his attendants. And if there was any relation 
between Laius and this stranger, which I killed, whp 
is more miserable than myself? What man can be 
more hated of the gods ? Whom it is not lawful for 
any of the citizens or strangers to receive into their 
houses, nor to speak to ; but they are commanded 
to drive me from their houses. Nor was it any 
other but me who pronounced these sad imprecations 

y Conducting mi/self by the stars.^ A proverbial speech, 
spoken of those who go a long voyage, and are directed by the 
stars where to fix their habitation. Or, perhaps, the poet meant 
the time of Oedipus's absence from his country, measured out by 
the falling and rising of stars at certain seasons. Or, lastly, that 
he directed his course by the stars, as sailors do, who foretel 
their prosperous or unhappy voyage according to their rising or 
falling. So great was the esteem which the ancients had for as- 
tronomy, that they thou^'lit all things below were influenced by 
celestial bodies. 

L 2 



148 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

against myself. I defile his bed whom I slew witli 
my own hands. Am I not vile ? Am I not all over 
polluted ? If I must flee hence, in my flight I must 
avoid my parents and my country, or, otherwise, I 
must be joined in marriage to my mother, and kill 
my father Polybus, who gave me birth and tender 
education. Cannot one say with justice, that all 
this is the curse of cruel Fortune resolved to per- 
secute me ? No, therefore, no, by the sacred wor- 
ship of the gods, let me not see that terrible day, 
but let me rather be driven from the face of the 
earth, than stain myself with so black a crime. 

Cho. This relation, my lord, gives us some un- 
easiness, but, until you are fully informed of him 
who will soon be here, you ought to preserve some 
hope. 

Oed. I will preserve it until I have spoken with 
this shepherd. 

Joe, When he is come, what do you think to do 
then? 

Oed. I shall tell you, if he will speak the same 
language with you, I shall be delivered from all my 
fi^rs. 

Joe. What did I tell you, my lord, which you 
most remarked ? 

Oed. You told me that he said robbers killed him ; 
if, therefore, still he will continue to say that num- 
ber, I did not kill him ; for one can never be equal 
with many ; but if he will say that one man alone 
did it, then, apparently, that one can IJe no other 
than myself. 

Joe. Be assured of this, that it is not in his power 
to deny it, for all the city heard his story, and not I 
alone. But if he should contradict his former dis- 
course, the murder of Laius can never fail upon 
you, whom Loxias himself said should die by my 
child ; nevertheless, you see that the miserable 
child did not kill him, but himself perished before. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 149 

Therefore, I shall give no more credit to the last 
oracle than to the first. 

Oed. You judge very right, madam, yet pray 
send a servant vrho may order him to come before 
us ; be that thy chief care. 

Joe. I will send immediately ; but let us go into 
the palace ; there is nothing that I will not do to 
oblige you. 



ACT III. SCENE IV. 

Chorus. 

Strophe I. 

/* May the gods grant me to enjoy a happy state, 
while I preserve that venerable sanctity in all my 
words and actions which are required by those laws 
which descended from Heaven, whereof Olympus is 
the only father ; nor did the mortal race of men 
beget them, nor is it in their power to bury them in 
oblivion; there is in those laws a powerful God 
who triumphs over our impiety, and who never 
grows old. 

Antistrofhe I. 
Insolence begets tyranny ; insolence, when it adds 

^ May the gods grant me to enjoy a happy state, while f preserve. 1 
Jocasta, on receiving the message of the natural death of Polybus, 
whom she supposed to be the real father of Oedipus, who, ac- 
cording to the oracle, was to have killed his father ; and having 
been told, likewise, by the same oracle, that Laius's own child 
was to be his murderer, which child, she thought, being exposed 
by her, in its infancy, on the mountains, had perished there, and 
that Laius, according to the common report, was killed by robbers, 
though in every thing she was deceived, was so presumptuous as 
to accuse even the oracle of falsehood, for which the Chorus, 
though modestly, blames her, and in his own person deprecates 
the like impiety, and the punishment due to her. 



150 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

crime to crime, and having raised men to the highest 
precipice, it throws them down into fatal necessity, 
and their fortunes forsake them, and they fall from 
that grandeur to which their injustice raised them. 
But I beseech the gods never to deprive the city of 
that happiness of which Oedipus was the author, 
for I still put myself under the protection of the 
gods. 

Strophe II. 

But if any one is so insolent by his actions or his 

words to insult the gods without any fear of their 

justice or reverence for their temples, let numberless 

evils fall upon him to punish his impious delights, 

. since he loves injustice, abandons himself to impiety, 

^ and restrains not his hands from sacrilegious acts. 

Uv What man hereafter will govern himself by reason ? 

If those practices are recompensed, to what purpose 

is it for me to lead up dances in honour of the gods? 

Antistrophe II. 

No more I'll go to worship Apollo at the sacred 
navel of the earth, nor to the temple at ^ Abae, nor 
to Olympia, if these oracles be not justified to all 
the world. But thou, O Jupiter, universal governor, 
let not your power pass these things unpunished, 
for they disrespect the oracles which foretold the 
fate of Laius, nor is Apollo honoured, and the wor- 
ship of the gods is quite neglected. 

* ylhce.'] A place in Lycia where Apollo had a temple, saith 
the Scholiast ; others say it was a village of Phocis, where his 
temple stood before that of Delphi was built ; particularly Hero- 
dotus, and Stephanos, the Byzantian. We are told by Pausanias, 
that this temple was burned by Xerxes. Camerarius cites a pas- 
sage from Pausanias, wherein he reckons Abae among the cities 
of Phocis, and says that those who inhabit it came first from 
Argos, and that it had its name from Abas their leader, the son 
of Lynceus and Hypermnestra. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 151 

ACT IV. SCENE I. 

Jocasta, Chorus, Attendants, 

Joe. O ^ princes of the land, I took in my hand 
these crowns to go to the temples of the gods to 
offer them sacrifices, for Oedipus is disturbed in 
mind with many anxious thoughts, nor as a prudent 
man judges of the oracle which he heard to day, by 
that which was delivered formerly, but listens at- 
tentively to those who tell him terrible things ; and 
all the counsel which I give him is vain. Therefore, 
I came to thee as a suppliant, "" O Lycian Apollo, 
for you are the nearest, with sacrifices and prayers ; 
beseeching you would send us a blessed deliverance 
from our present evils. We are all in the utmost 
consternation to see this prince in the same pressure 
of spirit as we see a pilot, who can no longer defend 
his ship against the fury of the winds. 

^ Princes of the land.] Among the ancients not only kings, 
but ail honourable men and chiefs of the kingdom, were called 
X^^a-'; avajtle?, and such are the Chorus here called, not so much 
from their power, as the reverence due to their office, being some 
of them priests, and the rest ancient Theban citizens. For the 
original signification of the word aVaf is a saviour or defender ; 
wherefore the gods are commonly called avaxle?. Homer tells us 
that Scamandrius, the son of Hector, was, by the Trojans, called 
Astyanax, because his father was t5 areo? awl, the defender of 
the city. 



ocVTce^p ol aXAot 



A^va,vo(.x\ , o\o<; ycx,^ Invito Wiov 'EkIu^, 

But him Astyanax the Trojans call. 

From his great father who defends the wall. 

Mr. Dry den. 

*^ Lycian ApollOy for you are the nearest.] There was 
as well at Thebes as at Athens a Gymnasium, called the Lyceum, 
where Apollo was worshipped, which being the nearest to the 
palace of all the temples, Apollo is, therefore; called ayx^ro^i 
nearest. 



152 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

ACT IV. SCENE II. 
Shepherd of Corinth, Chorus, Jocasta. *^ 

Shep. Thebans, ^ can I learn from you where is 
the palace of king Oedipus ? But chiefly tell me of 
himself, if you know where he is. 

Cho. This is the palace, and himself is within. 
This is his queen,, and the mother of his children. 

Shep. May she ^ver^e happy in her family, and 
may nothing disturb the glorious union between her 
and her royal consort. 

Joe. And you, also, stranger, because of your 
good wishes on my behalf; but tell me why you 
came here, and what news you bring. 

Shep. Happy news, madam, to your whole house, 
and to the king. 

Joe. What is it ? and from w hence are you come ? 

Shep. From Corinth ; that tale which I shall soon 
unravel will certainly give you joy, but it will like- 
wise give you sadness. 

Joe. But what can produce in me two such con- 
trary effects ? 

^ Can I learn from you.'] The arrival of this Corinthian shep- 
herd is an admirable incident, and produces the best remembrance 
the theatre ever saw. For this shepherd, thinking to convince 
Oedipus of his error, and inform him who were really his parents, 
instead of doing him a piece of service, which he designed, cast 
him into the most horrible of all misfortunes, and let him see 
that he was both a parricide and an incestuous person. 

Aristotle brings this as an example of the most surprising 
peripetie that can possibly come upon a theatre ; for he saith, 
cap. xi. Art. Poet. *' A peripetie is a change of one fortune into 
** another, contrary to what was expected ; and that change 
" happens either necessarily or probably, as in the Oedipus of 
" Sophocles ; for he, who comes to tell him agreeable news, and 
" ought to deliver him out of those fears, into which the thoughts 
** of committing incest with his mother had cast him, does the 
** quite contrary, in telling him plainly what he is," 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. l53 

Shep. It is the report at Corinth that the people 
of Isthmus are resolved to make Oedipus their king. 

Joe. But why ? Is not old Polybus still king ? 

Shep. No, madam ; he is dead. 

Joe. What sayest thou ? Is old Polybus dead ? 

Shep. Unless I say true, I submit to lose my life ? 

Joe. Servants, go, speedily, and tell your master 
this news. O, ye oracles of the gods, where are 
you? Oedipus formerly fled from his country for 
fear he should kill his father ; and now the fates 
have cut his thread of life, and not his son. 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 

Oedipus, Joeasta, Chorus, Shepherd of Corinth. 

Oed. On what important occasion, my Jocasta, 
have you sent for me out of the palace ? 

Joe. Hear this stranger, and when you have 
heard, consider on what foundations are grounded 
these venerable oracles of the gods. 

Oed. Who is he ? and what news doth he bring me ? 

Joe. He comes out of Corinth, with the news 
that your father, Polybus, is dead. 

Oed. What sayest thou, stranger? Speak this 
thyself 

Shep. If I must begin with this news, then know 
that he is dead. 

Oed. Whether was it by conspiracy, or by a 
disease ? 

Shep. A small disease sends ancient bodies to 
the grave. 

Oed. It seems, then, he died of a disease. 

Shep. Yes ; and for his great age to which he lived. 

Oed. Oh ! Oh ! Why then, Jocasta, should any one 
regard the Pythian foretelling altar, or those birds 
which chirp in the air? who reported that I was to 



154 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

kill my father, yet he lies in his grave, and I am here ; 
nor did I ever hold up arms to touch his life, unless 
he died with the grief that he could not see me ; so 
he might indeed have died by me. Therefore, Po- 
lybus lies in his tomb, and hath borne with him the 
accomplishment of those oracles which deserve only 
my contempt. 

Joe. Did I not tell you this before ? 

Oed. You did ; but I was seized with fear. 

Joe. Therefore, now do not let such thoughts as 
these disturb your mind. 

Oed. Ought I not to fear, lest I pollute my mo- 
ther s bed. 

Joe. But. what should a man fear whom fortune 

favours ? There is no foreseeing future events with 

i certainty ; it is the best to lead an easy life free from 

/ anxious care. Do not fear to commit that incest 

P \ with your mother, for many men in dreams imagined 

(j5^ ^that they have slept with their mothers ; but he, 

who would lead a peaceable life must disregard 

such illusions. 

Oed. Well hast thou spoken, did not she live who 
bore me ; but since she lives, there is still much 
reason to fear, after all you can say. 

Joe. Is not the death of your father a great sign 
that the other oracle will not be accomplished ? 

Oed. It is true ; but yet, I say, while she lives my 
fears are not groundless. 

Shep. But what woman plungeth you into all this 
fear ? 

Oed. Merope, old man, the wife of Polybus. 

Shep. What is there in her to cause this fear ? 

Oed. The accomplishment of a grievous oracle. 

Shep. What oracle, my lord ? May I know it ? 

Oed. Loxias once said that I must converse car- 
nally with my mother, and spill my father's blood 
with these my hands ; wherefore long ago I lived 
far from Corinth, and their absence was happy to 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 155 

me, notwithstanding it is a great pleasure to see 
my parents. 

Sliep. And did these fears banish you from Co- 
rinth ? 

Oed. Yes ; for I was not \villing to be my father's 
murderer. 

Sliep. Why, therefore, should I not deliver you 
from that fear, since out of kindness to you I came r 

Oed. If you do, you shall receive of me a recom- 
pense proportionable to that great service. 

Sliep. And, indeed, for that reason I came, that, 
when you return to Corinth, I might deserve your 
grace, and live happily under your government. 

Oed. But I will by no means go to my mother. 

Sliep. It is plain you are ignorant of what you do. 

Oed. How? old man, by the gods explain that 
riddle to me. 

Shep. Yes ; if it be that which keeps you from 
returning home to Corinth. 

Oed. I dread lest Phcebus hath been too true. 

Shep. What, lest you commit incest with your 
mother ? 

Oed. It is that which perpetually affrights me. 

'Shep. But be assured you put yourself in fear 
without just cause. 

Oed. Why ? If I am son of those parents ? 

Shep. Therefore I inform you that Polybus was 
not your father. 

Oed. What hast thou said ? Was not Polybus my 
father ? 

Shep. No more than I am, but even alike. 

Oed. But how is he who begat me no father ? 

Shep. Neither did he beget you, nor I. 

Oed. Why then did he call me his son. 

Shep. Know that he received you as a gift from 
my hands. 

Oed. Did he so cherish what he received from 
another hand ? 



156 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

Shep, The want of children engaged him to do it, 

Oed, Did you buy me ? Or was I your son ? 

Shep. I found you on the top of mount Cithaeron. 

Oed. Why did you travel over those places ? 

Shep. There I had the care of some flocks. 

Oed, Then you was a shepherd therefore. 

Shep. My lord, I saved your life in that time. 

Oed. In what state did you tind me ? 

Shep. Your pierced feet may witness that. 

Oed. Woe is me ! What old evil is that you men- 
tion ? 

Shep. I will ease you of your doubt, the ends of 
your feet were boared through. 

Oed. I received this reproach from my swaddling- 
bands. 

Shep. * And from thence you received the name 
you bear. 

Oed. By the gods tell me, from my father or 
mother ? 

Shep. I know not ; but he who gave thee to me 
knows it better than I. 

Oed. Did you receive me of another, or did you 
find me yourself? 

Shep. No ; but another shepherd gave thee to me. 

Oed. Who is he ; can you tell me ? 

Shep. He was said to be one of the shepherds of 
Laius. 

Oed, Of- him who was formerly king of tiiis 
country ? 

Shep. Yes, my lord ; the same. 

Oed. Is he still living, that I may see him ? 

*- And from thence you received the name you bear.] i. e. By 
composition of these words, ^la to ol^tTr ria -oroi'*?. Thus Seneca 
brings in an old man telling him, — 

Forata ferro gesseras vestigia, 
Tumore nactus nomen ac vitio pedum. 
Your feet were pierc'd with iron, from which sore 
And Tumour you are named. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 157 

Shep. You may know that best who are of this 
country. 

Oed, Is there any of you who stand here who 
know that shepherd whom he mentions ; and who 
saw him in the fields, or here ? Declare it ; for this 
matter must be made plain. [To the Chorus, 

Cho. I suppose him no other than him who is of 
the fields, whom before you desired to see ; but the 
queen herself may best tell that. 

Oed, Madam, do you know whether he whom 
we sent to search for be him whom he speaks of? 

Joe. Who is it whom he spoke of? Be not dis- 
turbed, nor permit that these things, which so rashly 
were spoken of, be repeated. 

Oed, That cannot be ; since I have found out all 

these lights, I will not neglect to discover my birth. 

Joe, By the gods, if you regard your peace of 

mind, inquire not that ; it is enough that I am a 

wretch. 

Oed, The affront would not fall upon you, though 
I were born a slave in the third degree. 

Joe, Nevertheless, I beseech you, obey me, and 
cease to make this search. 

Oed. I will not be persuaded ; I must discover 
my birth. 

Joe, Believe me, my lord, my reasons for giving 
you this counsel are just. 

Oed, All that you say only augments my pain, 
and excites my curiosity. 

Joe, O unfortunate man ! I wish you never may 
know who you are. 

Oed, Let some go and bring that shepherd to me ; 
let her rejoice in her noble race. 

Joe. Alas 1 alas ! unhappy man ! this is the only 
thing I have to say to you, and this is the last time 
that ever I shall say that. 



158 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

ACT IV. SCENE IV. 
Chorus, Oedipus, Shepherd of Corinth. 

Cho, What sadness obliged the queen to retire ? 
I fear lest that silence will have some dreadful end. 

Oed, Let her do what she will ; though my 
parentage is but mean, I will know it. She thinks 
greatly, as a woman, and, doubtless, is ashamed 
of my mean birth ; ^ but I think myself the child of 
fortune, who gave freely to me, and I will never 
blush at her favours. I was born of that mother, 
and kindred months raised me from a contemptible 
state to the highest degree of honour, and my birth 
'would be the same, though I should cease to know 
it. 

Chorus, Strophe. 

Cho. If I am a prophet, and skilful in my art, by 
Jove, Cithseron, to-morrow shall not pass, before 
you shall discover to us the country and the mother 
of Oedipus ; and, ere we shall institute dances in 
your honour, to give you thanks for the pleasure you 
will do our king. Apollo grant that my predictions 
may be accomplished. 

A^, Antistrophe. 

^ And you, O prince ! ^ who of the immortal gods 

^ But I think myself the child of fortune, ^c] These are 
called sons of fortune, who, being of unknown or very obscure 
birth, have raised themselves, or upstarts. Thus, Horace, Sat. vi. 
lib. 2. speaking of himself, says, 

Luserat in campo fortunce filius, 

Dacier. 
8 Who of the immortal gods ?] Observe the extraordinary love 
of the Chorus for Oedipus, and how willing they are to interpret 
everything to his advantage, for here they hope he will prove to 
be son of one of the gods of the mountains. It is well known 
that Pan is the god of shepherds, and that his dominion is in the 
fields, therefore he is called y6f/.to(;, and the Scholiasts say that 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 159 

begat you? what daughter of Pan, god of the 
mountains, bore you ? art thou the fruits of Apollo's 
amours? for he often diverts himself in the fields 
and mountains ; or did Mercury, the Cyllenian god, 
or Bacchus, who inhabits the mountain-tops, beget 
you on any of the Heliconian nymphs, with whom 
he most commonly sports ? 

Oed, If I can judge of an old man w^hom I never 
met with before, I think I see that shepherd whom 
we waited for so long, and he agrees in old age with 
this stranger ; besides, I know those that lead him 
to be my servants ; but you may know him better 
than I, for, doubtless, you have seen him before. 

Cho. I know him, for he belonged to Laius, and 
was his faithful shepherd. 

Oed. First, I ask you, Corinthian stranger, is this 
he of whom you spake to me ? 

Shep. He is the same. 



ACT IV. SCENE V. 
Oedipus, Shepherd of Corinth, Phorbas, Chorus. 

Oed. Approach, old man, and answer to what I 
shall ask you. Wast thou once of Laius ? 

Phor. I was his servant, not bought, but brought 
up in his family. 

Oed. What business did you follow ? 

Phor. I had the care of his flocks for the most 
part of my hfe. 

Oed. In what places were you ordinarily conver- 
sant? 



Apollo is likewise so called ; probably he might have that name 
from having been shepherd to Admetus. And Triclinius tells us 
that Bacchus is said to inhabit the mountains, because his raging 
women are conversant about them, or because he had a temple in 
Cithaeron. 



160 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

Phor. On mount Cithaeron, and other places 
thereto adjoining. 

Oed. Do you know this man ; have you ever seen 
him anyv^here ? 

Phor. In what employment ; what man do you 
mean? 

Oed. He who is before your eyes ; did you ever 
meet with him anywhere ? 

Phor. I do not remember that ever I saw him in 
my life. 

Shep. It is no wonder, my lord ; but I will quick- 
ly bring to his remembrance things which he hatli 
forgot, for I know well that he knows me; on 
Cithseron he fed two flocks and I but one, and we 
passed together ^' three whole successive seasons, 
from the beginning of spring to the end of autumn ; 
but, at the approach of winter, I drave mine into 
my stables, but he drave his into those of Laius. 
Do I say the truth, or do I not ? 

Phor. You say what is true ; I remember it, 
though it be a long time ago. 

Shep. Speak, tell me ; do you remember that you 
gave me a certain infant, that I should bring it up 
as my own ? 

Phor. What is it you say ? Why do you ask that 
question ? 

Shep. This, my friend, is that same infant. 

Phor. Curses light on thee, thou wretch! wilt 
thou not be silent ? 

Oed. O do not chastise him, it is you w ho deserve 
chastisement rather than he. 



^ Three whole successive seasons.] The Greek is, t|6k ci?v»« 
tf^f/Lviviii %§ov»?. That the sense I have given of this passage is 
right, (not three whole months, as it is in most editions,) is plain 
from hence, that, from the spring to the rising of Arcturus, which 
is about the beginning of October, much exceeds three months ; 
and from the spring to the setting thereof, are reckoned th© three 
seasons of the year, t. e. spring, summer, and autumn. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUJS. \ 161 

Pko)\ My lord, wherein do I offend? 

Oed. In not speaking of that infant of whom he 
inquires. 

P/ior. He knows not what he says, but amuseth 
you unprofitably. 

Oed. You will not speak for favour, but tortures 
shall make you speak. 

Phor. No, by the gods ; do not so affront my age. 

Oed. Will not somebody quickly bind his hands ? 

Phor. Ah me, a wretch ! Why, what would you 
know? 

Oed. Did you give that infant to him whom he 
mentions ? 

Phor. I gave it to him, but wish that that had 
been the last day of my life ! 

Oed. Wish not for death ; if you will not tell me 
the truth, that shall be your portion. 

Phor. But, much more if I speak, I perish. 

Oed. This man, it seems, is only for delaying. 

Phor. Not I, my lord ; but I have told that I gave 
it to him. 

Oed. Whence did you receive him ; was he yours, 
or did you receive him of another ? 

Phor. He was not mine, but I received him of 
another. 

Oed. But from which of the citizens, and from 
what house did you receive him ? 

Phor. By the gods, sir, inquire no more. 

Oed. You are a dead man if I ask you again. 

Phor. He was of the family of Laius. 

Oed. Whether was he his son or one of his ser- 
vants ? 

Phor. Woe is me ! ciniel necessity enforces me to 
speak. 

Oed. And me to hear, but yet I must hear it. 

Phor. He was called his child. The queen can 
better tell than I whose he is. 

Oed. Did she give him to you ^ 

M 



162 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS' 

Phor. Yes, my lord. 

Oed, For what end ? 

Phor. That I should kill him. 

Oed. Miserable woman ! the child she bore ; for 
what reason ? 

Phor. For fear of an unfortunate oracle. 

Oed. What oracle ? 

Phor. The oracle was that he should kill his 
parents. 

Oed. Then, why did you give him to this old 
man? 

Phor. Out of pity, my lord, and I thought to 
send him into another country, but he, in saving 
your life, reserved you for numberless evils ; and, if 
you are he whom he speaks of, the world cannot 
produce a more unhappy man. 

Oed. ' Alas ! alas ! all things are come out plain. 
O sun, whose radiant beams enlighten the earth, 
this is the last time I behold thee, who am bom of 
those of whom I should not ; who have conversed 
carnally with her from whose loathed embraces na- 
ture commanded me to fly ! and have slain, with my 
cursed hand, those who gave me being ! [Exit, 

^ Alas ! alas ! all things are come out plain.] This remem- 
brance is what Aristotle calls the most beautiful of all, because it 
is accompanied with a change of fortune, or peripetie ; for it is 
no sooner made, but Oedipus falls from happiness to misery, 
cap. xi. Art. Poet. " The best remembrance is that which is 
" found with the peripetie, as in the Oedipus, for that will pro- 
** duce either compassion or terror, of which tragedy is an imita- 
*' tion on this passage.'' Mr. Dacier hath these following remarks : 
" This reason is drawn from this general principle, that tragedy 
** is the imitation of an action ; and not only of an action, but 
" of such an action which excites pity and fear ; and this is 
" found in that remembrance which he prefers to the rest: there 
" is action, since it makes the good or ill fortune of the principal 
*' personages ; and it cannot fail of exciting terror or compassion, 
** since, in one and the same moment, it decides things of so great 
" importance, and produces such grand effects. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 163 

ACT IV. SCENE VI. 

Chorus. 

Cho. O ! Race of mortals, how little I esteem 
the state of yom' felicity ! It is but an idle dream 
that appears great, and vanishes in the same mo- 
ment. By your sad example, most unhappy Oedi- 
pus, I am taught to say, no man on earth is happy ; 
who, raised to the highest state of mortal glory, 
after your signal victory over Sphinx, who ravaged, 
our country, didst deliver it from the death she 
threatened, from our deliverer became our king, and 
was honoured as a god in Thebes : now who is 
more unhappy ? Who more oppressed by fortune's 
malice? Who ever suffered so terrible a change? 
O noble Oedipus, ^ the same great port sufficed 
both for your father and yourself to sail into. How- 
could, unhappy man, how could your father's bed 
receive you so long without your knowledge ? Time 
only, who sees all things, found you out, and dis- 
covered your unhappy marriage, begetting and 
begotten ! O son of Laius, I wish I had never seen 
thee ; I lament thy most unhappy state, who, after 
you had restored light to my dying eyes, hast 
plunged them into most horrid darkness. 



ACT V. SCENE I. 
Shepherd of Corinth^ Cho? its, Messenger, 
Mes. Most honourable seniors of this land, what 

^ The same great poit.] The poet metaphorically calls Jocasta 
a port, or place where ships both put in and from whence they 
launch forth, because Oedipus having married his mother, begat 
children on the same body of which he was born ; so was both 
her son and father to her children ; or because she was married 
both to her husband and son. 

M 2 



164 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

are you now about to hear and see, and what grief 
will you conceive if you interest yourselves in the 
evils of the house of Labdacus? For I am per- 
suaded that ^ neither the water of Ister nor Phasis 
can wash the house from those crimes by which it 
is polluted, which are now unseen, and will soon 
come to light, which have been willingly committed. 
For the most afflicting of all evils are those which 
are committed of deliberate purpose. 

Cho. Nothing is wanting from what we have 
heard to complete our misery ; but what can you 
farther say ? 

Mes. Jocasta is no more. 

Cho. Most wretched princess, how did she die ? 
Mes. By her own hand : words are too weak to 
express the horror of that absent spectacle, yet, as 
far as my memory will permit me, you shall hear the 
sad recital of her sufferings. She entered, with all 
the agonies of black despair, into the palace, and 
flew suddenly to the nuptial chamber, tearing her hair 
with both her hands ; and, having shut the door, she 
calls Laius formerly slain, mentioning her offspring, 



* Neither the water of Ister nor Phasis.] Gr. "ir^ov ere <^oi<riv. 
They were two great rivers, the former, otherwise called the 
Danube, passeth by Illyricum and runs into the Euxine sea ; the 
other is a famous river in Colchis. 

The pagans fancied that the water of the sea, or those great 
rivers, had power to wash away all pollution of crimes : in Virgil, 
JEneas would not touch his household gods before he had purged 
himself of the blood he had spilt. 

Me bello e tanto digressum et ccede recentit 
Attrectare nefaSj donee me flumine vivo 
Ahluero. 

Ajax, in the tragedy so called, went out upon pretence of recon- 
ciling himself to the gods, by washing after killing the beasts. 
And St. Augustin against the Donatists says. In mtdtis idolorum 
sacrilegis sacris baptizati homines per hibentur, i. e. washed. The 
Pagans had this notion from the knowledge of the deluge, by 
which they learned that God purged the world. 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 165 

by whom he was miserably murdered, hut left her 
to bear unhappy children to her own child. Then 
§he addressed herself to her bed, where the 
wretch both bore a husband by her husband, and 
children by her son. How after that she died I 
know not ; for Oedipus rushed in roaring, who hin- 
dered us from beholding her misery. Then we fixed 
our eyes on him to observe his motions ; as he comes 
along he begs of us to give him a sword, asked t© 
know where he should find his wife, whom he would 
not look upon as his wife, but his mother, who bore 
both himself and his cliildren. We who were present 
did not regard to grant his request, yet some god, 
in favour to his phrenzy, conducted him to her ; then 
he approached ^vith dreadful cries, as if some drew 
him by force. He mshed through the double gates, 
drew from their hinges the sonorous portcullis, and 
comes into the chamber, where we see the queen 
hanging by a twisted rope ; no sooner he beheld her, 
%but he roars out like a furious lion, looses the hang- 
ing rope,, and the wretched queen falls on the 
ground : "^ and then appeared a more horrible thing, 

°^ And then appeayed a, more ho7TihIe.] This description of 
the manner in which Oedipus cut oat his eyes is very ingenious 
and eloquent; and is a good instance where tliat general rule, 
which Horace lays dowUj is observed. 

Multaque toltes 
Ex ocuViSy qucB mox nan^et facundia priEsens. 

Had the action itself of Oedipus been represented on the theatre^ 
nothing could have been more terrible and shocking. And this 
narration both hides the horror, and moves at the same time the 
compassion of the audience for that miserable prince. So great 
is the force of art in making things in their own natuie disagree- 
able become objects of pleasure and delight by an ingenious 
narration : for, as in painting, an object, in itself the most detest- 
ed to human eyes, may be so painted by an ingenious artist, as to 
seem very agreeable upon canvass ; so it is in poetry, as Despreux 
ingeniously observes in his Art of Poetry : 



166 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

for Oedipus pulling the golden clasps from her 
garments, wherewith she was adorned, he then forced 
the points of them into his eyes, saying thus ; that 
he would not behold her, nor what evils he had been 
the cause of, but, plunged in eternal darkness, he 
would not see nor distinguish those objects which 
present themselves before him. In repeating incessant- 
ly these words, he raised up his eye-brows and cut out 
his eyes ; his bloody eye-balls stained his beard, nor did 
they only send down moistening drops, but even a 
black shower of blood, thick as hail, poured down. 
These are the sad calamities in which the king and 
queen had both a share ; and there fomier felicity, 
v(^hich was before truly great, is now turned to 
weeping, lamentation, death, infamy, and the worst 
of evils that can be named are less than theirs. 

Clio. But with what evils is he now oppressed ? 

Mes. He roars out that they should open the 
gates, and shew to all the Thebans a parricide, and 

his mother's saying abominable things, which 

I dare not mention ; that he would cast himself out 
of the kingdom, and the imprecations which he had 
pronounced against himself suffered him no longer 
to continue in his palace ! In his present state he 
hath need of some assistance, and some leader, for 
this evil is great than can be borne. The folds of the 

// n'est point de serpent, ni de monstre odieux. 
Qui par Vart imitt, ne puisse plaire aux yeux, 
D'un pinceau delicat V artifice agreable, 
Du plus affreux objet fait un ohjet aimable, 
Ainsi pour nous charmer y la tragedie en pleurs. 



D'Oedipe tout sanglant, fit parler les douleur 

There's not a monster bred beneath the sky. 
But, well disposed by art, may please the eye 
A curious workman, by his skill divine, 
From an ill object makes a good design. 
Thus to delight iis, tragedy in tears, 
Provokes, for Oedipus, our hopes and fears 



I 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 167 

gates are opened, and soon thou wilt see such a 
spectacle as would move an enemy to pity. 



ACT V. SCENE II. 

The Palace Gates are opened, from whence Oedipus 
approaches with his Eyes pulled out, which the 
Chorus seeing, startle and turn aivay their Faces. 

Chorus, Oedipus, 

Cho. O spectacle of horror which none can bear 
to see ! the sadest that ever I beheld. Miserable 
prince, what madness hath seized you ? What cmel 
god hath plunged you in these seas of woe ? Alas, 
alas, unhappy man ! I cannot look on thee though 
I have a strong desire to see you, to speak to you, 
and to hear you, such horror dost thou give me. 

Oed. Alas! alas! miserable man, to what land 
am I borne, whither is my voice spread ! O my for- 
tune, whither art thou come ! 

Cho, Forsaken you quite, and given place to the 
sadest evils, evils which none can bear to hear 
or see. 

Oed. O my cloud of darkness which covers my 
eyes, abominable, and which none can dissipate! 
Woe is me, my sad grief which proceeds not only 
from my rage of madness, but likewise from the 
memory of my crimes ! 

Cho. In this thy wretched state, thy complaints 
are just. 

Oed. Ah ! thou who art still my only friend in my 
misfortunes, who still art careful even for me, a 
blind man; alas! alas! thou dost not deceive me, 
but I well know thy voice, although involved in 
darkness. 



168 OEDIPUS TV RAN N us. 

Cho. What desperate deed is this thou hast done f 
How darest thou thus tear out thy eyes? What 
angry god lent thee his aid ? 

Oed. It was Apollo, my friend, who is the only 
author of my miseries ; none ever lent me his aid, 
this wretched hand alone hath done the deed. Why 
should I longer enjoy my sight, to behold nought 
but objects of horror and sadness ? 

Cho, My lord, what you say is too true. 

Oed, Is there ought, my friends, that I could 
behold with pleasure? Is there ought that I can 
love or converse with ? Banish me hence with speed, 
my friends ; banish me hence a cursed monster, and 
the most hated of all mortals to the gods. 

Cho, Thou art doubly wretched, both for thy 
ills themselves, and for thy sense of them. O ! that 
I had never known thee. 

Oed, Let him perish whosoever he was, who 
loosed the cruel cords from off my feet, and pre- 
served me from the cold arms of death. His pity 
hath been fatal to me, for, had I then died, I had 
not been the unhappy cause of so many evils to my- 
self and friends. 

Cho, There I too had been happy to my wish. 

Oed, I had not been my father's murderer, nor 
had men seen me marry her who gave me life. But 
now I am a wretched son of defiled parents, a 
monster born of her from whom I begat children, 
and to say aU^ the greatest and most horrid evils 
are fallen upon Oedipus. 

Cho. My lord, I know not how to approve this 
action, it had been better for you not to have been 
at all than thus to drag a miserable life, deprived 
of eyes. 

Oed. Do not tell me that I have done ill in tear- 
ing out my eyes, for I know not with what eyes I 
could see my father when I come to the subterrane- 
ous habitations, or my miserable mother; to both 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. i69 

which greater evil I have done than death itself. 
But as my children daily grow up, still grows my 
pleasure in beholding them : by no means, for nei- 
ther children, nor country, nor palace, nor sacred 
images of the gods, could aftbrd pleasure to my 
eyes, of which I, a most unhappy man, one of the 
greatest in Thebes, have deprived myself, in com- 
manding that all should banish that impious man, 
whom the gods have declared the cause of all the 
public calamities, and to say all in one word, this 
son of Laius. And after I have discovered my 
shame could I enjoy in quietness my sight? By no 
means; but, if there were a way to seal up my 
hearing faculty, I would make this double sacrifice 
to my despair, by closing up that gate from the 
knowledge of my evils, that I might be both deaf 
and blind, for that is sweet to have but little sense 
in such terrible evils. O Cithaeron! why did you 
receive me ? Why, when you had received me, did 
you not suffer me to perish ? That I had not shewn 
myself to men of what parents I was born ! O 
Polybus, and Corinth, falsely called my country, you 
have brought me up under a human form, a monster 
who am a reproach to nature. O triple ways, and 
dark forest, grove of oaks, and narrow place in the 
triple way, who have drank my father's blood, which 
my hands have shed, do you still remember me, and 
what crimes you have seen me commit, and how 
far short they come of those I have since committed ! 
O marriage, fatal marriage, you have begot me, and, 
having so done, made me return to the womb that 
wrapt me yet unborn, and produced fathers, brothers, 
children, husbands, wives, mothers, and the most 
vile deeds that human thoughts can form : one 
ought to tremble even to pronounce such horrid 
crimes. By the gods, as soon a possible hide me, 
kill me, or cast me into the sea, where you shall 



170 OEDIPUS TYHANNUS. 

never see me more ; "^ deign to touch a miserable 
man ; do me this last service ; fear not ; the evils 
which I suffer cannot befal any but myself. 

Cho. But Creon is here in a proper time for your 
demand, both to give you such counsel and assis- 
tance as are necessary for you, for instead of thee 
he is left as sole guardian of this land. 

Oed, Woe is me ! What therefore shall I say to 
him? What succours can I expect after those unjust 
suspicions which I had of him ? 



1 ACT Y. SCENE III. 

I Creon, Oedipus, Chorus, Oedipus s Children. 

\ Cre. I came not to insult your evils, Oedipus, nor 
x/ to reproach you ; but you Thebans, if the race of 
men be not your care, at least revere the sacred 
sun's all-feeding flame, which hath brought to light 
and pointed out that victim on which all our suffer- 
ings are justly charged. A victim, which neither 
the earth, nor the "" sacred rain, which is sprinkled 
on us at these altars, nor the light can endure. Go 

® Deign to touch, S^c] This is founded upon the superstition 
of the ancients, who supposed that if any one touched a wicked 
man, he thereby drew down upon his own head the anger of the 
gods. In a Latin tragedy, cited by Cicero, Thyestes says to the 
Chorus, 

Nolite, hospites, ad me adire, illico, istic, 

Ne contagio mea bonis, umbrave obsit. 

Tanta vis sceleris in corpore hceret. Dacier. 

" Sacred 7'ain.] Gr. oixQ^o? U^k, it is so called because the 
priests sprinkled the heads of those who were present at the 
sacrifices with holy water, which fell on them as rain. The apos- 
tle seems to allude to this practice in the following words : Heb. x. 
22. " Let us draw near, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil 
" conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.'' And 
Ezek. XXX vi. 25. " Then will I sprinkle clean water upon you, and 
** ye shall be clean from all your filthiness." 



OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 171 

and speedily take him into the palace, for it is fit 
that relations only should be witnesses of each 
others afflictions. 

Oed, By the gods, since that you have disproved 
my opinion of you, and being the best of men come 
to me who am the worst ; grant me this favour which 
I ask of you ; it is more for your sake than for mine 
I ask it. 

Cre. What is your request ? 

Oed. Banish me out of this land as speedily as 
possible ; send me where I shall no more hold dis- 
course with man. 

Ore. Be well assiy^ed I had done it, only that 
first I would learn from the gods what is proper to 
be done. 

Oed. But have not the gods plainly declared, that 
you should destroy me ? 

Cre. But ° in the state we are in, we ought to do 
nothing before we consult them. 

Oed. Will you consult the gods for such a wretch 
as I am ? 

Cre. Ah ! your misfortunes warn us what faith we 
ought to put in their oracles. 

Oed. I beseech and exhort you to bury the prin- 
cess, who lies dead in the palace, and you will 
perform your duty to you relation ; for me, there is 
no reason my father's city should desire my longer 
continuance among them, but suffer me to live on 
Mount Cithaeron, which my father and mother, when 
alive, chose for my sepulchre, that I might die 
according to their wills, where they decreed I should 
end my days. This I know well, that neither dis- 
ease nor any other accident have power to put a 



** In the state we are m.] Though it had been positively decreed 
by the oracle, that the murderer of Laius should be taken away 
from the earth, yet he being the lawful king, Creon thought it 
proper to consult again the oracle as to Oedipus's request. 



172 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

period to my days; for I should not have been 
saved from the arms of death, but to be reserved 
for some more horrid evils. But let my cruel for- 
tune do what she will with me, take no care of my 
sons, they are men, so that wherever they are their 
courage will be their sure defence ; but earnestly I 
entreat you to take care of my poor daughters, who 
have been always fed with the choicest dainties ; 
tliough I was absent they always shared the same 
things with me. Permit me to hold them in my 
arms, and lament over them those evils in which 
they are involved : if I touch them with my hand, 
I shall think I see them still. ^By the gods do I not 
hear my children weeping ? And Creon in pity to 
me hath sent me my children. 

Cre. Yes, my lord, I have brought them, being 
willing to afford you this long-desired pleasure. 

Oed, May you be ever happy, and may a milder 
fortune always accompany you than ever did me. 
My children, where are you ? Come to your father's 
arms, who am your brother; a father, who have 
cut out my eyes, that now I cannot see you ; a father, 
who, though innocent, have begot you of her who 
bore me. I mourn your fate, my children, when I 
consider the remaining part of your wretched life, 
which you must live among men : in what assemblies 
of citizens will you appear, what feasts, from whence 
you will not come weeping home, instead of the 
pleasure of seeing? But when you shall arrive to 
maturity of age to be married, who will marry you? 
P Who is he who will cast away his children to bear 
those reproaches which are charged upon our family? 

P Who is he will cast away his children, <^^c.] It was looked 
upon among the Grecians, a reproachful thing for a virgin to live 
long unmarried : thus Orestes mourns Electra's unmarried life. It 
was the same among the Hebrews, for which reason, Judges, xi. 
37. Jephtha's daughter desired two month's time of her father to 
go up and down the mountains to bewail her virginity. 



OEDIPUS TYPANNUS. 173 

What evil is wanting to' complete your misery ? Yom* 
father killed his father, and begat you of the same 
mother from whence himself was bora. These re- 
proaches ^vill be cast on you, and after this who will 
marry you ? There is not one, my children ! But it 
will be your fortune to wear away your lives neglect- 
ed and unmarried. Son of Menoeceus, since you 
are left sole father to them, for we who begat them 
are no more, do not despise them in their wretched 
state, poor, friendless, and unmarried, nor let them 
suffer that punishment which is due only to my crimes ; 
but have pity on their misery and their youth, who 
have no friend but you, grant me to touch your hand, 
in token that you hear my prayer. To you, my 
children, if you had understanding, I would com- 
mend many things ; but, as you have not, pray only 
to the gods for me, "^ that they would not let me 
always live ; and to grant that you may live a hap- 
pier life ever while it lasts than you father. 

Ore. You have shed tears enough, go into the 
palace. 

Oed. I must obey you, how unpleasant soca er it 
is to me. 

Cre. All things have their proper seasons. 

Oed. Knowest thou what favour I would ask ? 

Oer. What favour? 

Oed. That you would immediately banish me from 
this land. 

Ci-e. You ask from me a gift which the gods have 
enjoined. 

Oed. But I am the most odious of all men to the 
gods. 

Cre. Therefore our request shall the sooner be 
granted. 



'^ That they would not let me always live,'] The text here hath 
been corrupted ; the true reading is u xui^lv uii Iffv^ and according 
to this I have translated it, not a xa»§o? on) l^v^ which is not sense. 



174 OEDIPUS TYRANNUS. 

Oed. Do you assure me of that ? 

Cre. I never speak but what I think. 

Oed, Take me away then when you please. 

Cre. Go in, but quit you children. 

Oed. Ah, do not take them from me. 

Cre. Do not insist to keep them, you know how 
often that of which you was most desirous hath been 
most fatal to you. 

Cho. ^ Inhabitants of Thebes, you see this Oedi- 
pus, who explained the famed aenigma, and to whose 
valour all things submitted, who owed his grandeur 
only to his spirit and his courage, into what sad 
calamities is he fallen ? So that, when we consider his 
unhappy end, we may learn from thence to pronounce 
no mortal happy in the world before we have seen 
him happily pass over the last day of his life. 

•■ Inhabitants of Thebes.] That which the Chorus saith here 
is properly an exode or epilogue, such as they ordinarily add to 
the ends of fables, and comprehends the moral sense. ThJs 
epilogue is not sung, as Aristotle tells us in his Art. Poet. cap. 12. 
" The exode," saith he, '* is all that which is said after the Chorus 
" hath left off singing, not to begin again.*' 



THE 



TRAGEDY OF ANTIGONE 



litantatt0 ^tvmnu- 



Creon, King of Thebes. 

H^MON, his Son. 

TiRESiAS, a Prophet. 

Chorus of ancient Men of Thebes. 

A Messenger from the Watch. 

Another Messenger. 

A Servant. 



WOMEN 

Antigone, 

ISMENE 

EuRYDiCE, Wife of Creon. 



J two Sisters, and Daughters of Oedipus. 
CE, Wife of Creon. 

SCENE'-Beforg CreorCs Palace at Thebes. 



ANTIGONE. 



The Argument. — Antigone, who gives the title to this piayt 
was daughter of Oedipus and sister fa Et codes and Polynices. 
These two brothers, in the wars between the Argians and Thebans, 
(Eteocles being for the Thebans and the other for the Argians,) 
slew each other in a single combat ; whereupon, Creon, king of 
Thebes, decreed, that the body of Polynices should be exposed 
above ground, and that none, upon pain of death, should bury it. 
Nevertheless, his sister Antigone, not in the least affrighted at 
this decree, first covers it with a little earth ; but the keepers, 
who were set to watch the carcase, not discovering her that time, 
they were threatened ivith death, by Creon, unless they produced 
the criminal. But, as they kept their post, Antigone coming 
finds the body uncovered, who, by her weeping, her mournful 
complaints and imprecations against those who uncovered the body, 
betrayed herself. Then was she brought before Creon, and im- 
mediately sentenced to be shut up alive in a covered vault, which 
was accordingly executed, where she hanged herself. Whereupon 
Hcemon, son of Creon, who had espoused her, seeing her sad 
catastrophe, for grief, stabbed himself ; for which Eurydice, wife 
of Creon, likewise killed herself. And, lastly, Creon laments the 
loss of his wife and son. 

This same subject hath been treated upon by Euripides, but 
with this , difference from Sophocles, that the former supposeth 
Hcemon and Antigone to be married, and have a son named 
Moemon. 

The character of Antigone in this play is much like that of 
Electra, in this same poet ; for, as Chrysothemis is introduced 
disputing with Electra, and endeavouring to dissuade her from 
so desperate an attempt, as the revenging her father's death by 
killing his murderers; so is Ismene here, to dissuade Antigone 
from burying her brother, contrary to Creon's decree ; whose 
mild and gentle disposition gives the poet a fair opportunity to 
raise the character of his heroine, while with the most convincing 
arguments she shews the justice and piety of the cause for which 
she suffered, and, by consequence, greatly moves an audience to 
compassion for her. 

This tragedy is of the implex kind, for although there is no 
remembrance, yet there is a considerable change of fortune, both 
in the person of Antigone and Creon, which both shews that a 
change of fortune, or peripetie, and remembrance, may subsist 
apart from each other ; and that either of them without the other, 
as well as both in conjunction, are sufficient to constitute an im- 
plex tragedy. In the Electra there is a double remembrance, 
without an immediate change of fortune ; here a change of for- 
tune without a remembrance ; in the Oedipus Tyrannus they are 
both together, yet they are all implex tragedies. 



ACT I. SCENE I. 
Antiooiie and Ismene. 



"& 



Ant. My dear sister, Ismene, dost thou know 
any of those evils which befell the house of Oedipus, 
which Jove will not bring upon us at lastf For 
there is nothing grievous or free from trouble, nothing 
is vile or dishonourable, which I have not seen ac- 
complished in mine and your evils. And now 
what is this they say again, that the king hath lately 
published an edict to the whole city ; knowest thou 
aught of it ? Hath the report yet reached thy ears ? 
Or are the evils of our enemies, which are coming 
on us, kept secret from you alone ? 

Ism. No report, Antigone, of friends joyful or 
sad e'er reached my ears since we both were depri- 
ved of two brothers, who died in one day with 
their mutual hands, but that the Argian army is 
overthrown this night ; I know nothing more, nor 
am I more fortunate or more aggrieved. 

A7it. I knew it well, and, therefore, I called you 
out of the palace gates, that from me alone you 
may hear all. 

Ism. What is it ? You seem to revolve on some 
deep thought. 

Ant. Why not ? Hath not Creon thus distinguish- 
ed our brothers, preferring one, and dishonouring 
the other in the affair of sepulture ? According to 
law and justice, they say, he hath buried Eteocles 
in the earth, honourably among the dead below. 
But the dead body of Polynices, who miserably fell, 
they say is proclaimed to the citizens, that none 
should cover it with a sepulchre, or weep for it ; 



178 ANTIGONE. 

but all must suffer it *to lie unlamented, unburied, 
^ sweet treasure for the birds to behold as their 
food. These things, they say, the good Creon 
hath decreed to you and me, (I say me) and all 
those who knew not the decree before, so plainly as 
it was decreed, now to come into it, and obey it, 
not as a thing of nought ; but whosoever neglecteth 
the decree must lie exposed, a dead body, to be 
viewed by the people in the city. This is the pre- 
sent case, and you shall soon shew whether you are 
generously born, or a base daughter of good parents. 

Ism. But what, ah me ! if this be so, should 1 
help you by transgressing the decree and burying 
Polynices ? 

Ant. Consider whether you will take pains and 
work along with me or no. 

Ism. What a bold deed is this ? Whither do your 
thoughts ramble ? 

Ant. Wilt thou help with thy hand to bear away 
the corpse ? 

Ism. ^ Dost thou think to bury one forbidden the 
city? 

Ant. Thy brother and mine, if thou wilt not, I 
will bury : I will not prove a traiterss to him. 

Ism. O miserable woman, while Creon forbids it! 

Ant. But it is not for him to hinder me from pay- 
ing my last offices to my friend. 

* To lie unlamented.] Among the ancients, the next great 
punishment of the dead to that of lying exposed without burial 
was to lie unlamented. This was the judgement which God 
threatened against Jehoiakim, king of Judah. Jerem. xxii. v. 18, 
19. " They shall not lament for him, saying, ah, my brother ! or, 
** ah, sister ! They shall not lament for him, saying, ah, Lord ! or, 
" ah, his glory ! He shall be buried with the burial of an ass," &c. 

^ Dost thou think to bury.] This controversy between Ismene 
and her sister is admirably adapted to the poet's purpose, which 
is to raise the character of Antigone, by shewing that no arguments 
could prevail with her to neglect her duty to her dead brother, 
which makes her the greater object of pity, when afterwards we 
see her miserable fate. 



ANTIGONE. 179 

Ism. Woe is me ! Consider, sister, how our fa- 
ther died, hated and inglorious, by reason of dis- 
covered crimes, puUing out both his eyes with his 
ow^n hand. And then another affliction, his mother, 
and wife hkewise, with a cord lost her life con- 
tumeliously ; the third, two miserable brothers in one 
day killed each other. And now we alone are left, 
consider how vilely we perish if we transgress the 
sentence or the power of tyrants, given them by 
virtue of the laws ; but it is proper to consider this, 
that we are bom women, who cannot contend with 
men ; besides, since we are governed by superiors, 
we should submit to these things, and more grievous 
than these. I, therefore, asking pardon from those 
under the earth, that I am forced to suffer this, will 
obey "" those in power ; for to enterprise things which 
exceed our power is a great folly. 

Ant. I will neither command you, nor, if you 
would do it, do I think that willingly you would 
act with me ; but let it be as you think fit, I will 
bury him. This deed would please me, though I 
died for it. Beloved, I'll lie with him, with my 
friend, acting pious deeds by craft; for longer is 
the time in which I must please those below than 
those here, for there I shall ever lie : but, if it please 
thee, dishonour those rites which the gods do honour. 

Ism. I do not dishonour them ; but to do this 
against the will of all the citizens is very difficult. 

Ant. You may give those excuses, but I will 
erect a sepulchre, and will go to my dear brother. 

Ism. Woe is me ! how I fear for thee, a wretch ? 

Ant. Fear not for me, direct your own life. 

Ism. But you shall shew this deed to none^ se- 
cretly conceal it, and so will I. 

Ant. Woe is me ! speak it out, for I shall hate 

*^ Those in power. '\ Gv.rotc, h tihii. /St^Scri, those that walk m 
the end ; for a kingdom is the end or hii?hest degree of power. 

N 2 



180 ANTIGONE. 

you much more if you are silent and declare it not 
to all the world. 

Ism. Thou hast a courageous heart in a dangerous 
enterprise. 

Ant, But I know how to please those whom chief- 
ly I should please. 

Ism. If you can, why not ? But you love things 
which are impossible. 

Ant. Therefore, when I am not able I'll desist. 

Ism. But it doth not become you chiefly to seek 
after things which are difficult. 

Ant. If you will speak thus, you will be odious 
to me. In justice yo.u will be odious to the dead ; 
but let me by my rashness suflfer the bitterest pu- 
nishment, for I shall suffer nothing so great that I 
shall not die honourably. 

Ism. If it seems good to thee go ; but know this, 
in that attempt thou shewest thyself unwise, though 
pious to thy brother. 



ACT I. SCENE II. 

Chorus, 

Strophe I. 

Cho. Hail thou most glorious light that ever shone 
on seven-gated Thebes. Thou eye of the golden 
day wast seen passing over the ^ Dircsean streams, 
and didst first repel the fugitive Argians with a nim^ 
ble flight, who came with all their warlike prepara- 
tion, armed with white bucklers. These Polj nices 
brought upon our land provoked thereto by a doubt- 

^ DirccBan streams.^ Dirce was wife of Lycus, king of 
Thebes, who was turned into a fountairi of that nanae near 
Thebes, near which this battle between Creon and the Argians 
was .fought. 



ANTIGONE. 181 

fill strife with his brother, (^ as an eagle shrill cries 
and flies upon the land, covered with snowy wings,) 
armed with much armour, and crested helmets. 

Antistrophe I. 

Who, though he stood upon the tower, and hissing 
with bloody spears round the seven-gated city, went 
hence e'er his cheeks were filled with our blood, or 
pitch and fire had laid waste our towers, such a fury 
of battle attacked the eagle's rear, that he became 
unable to oppose ^ his adversary the dragon. Jove 
hates the boasting of a proud tongue, and seeing 
them come with great violence, with noise of golden 
armour and pride, cast down Capaneus with a 
thunderbolt, hasting to boast of victory upon the 
walls. 

* As an eagle shrill cries.] The poet by several metaphorical 
expressions compares Polyiiices to an eagle, calling his armour 
wings, his seven armies seven beaks, &c. 

^ His adversary the dragon.] The Scholiast says that, by the 
dragon here, the poet means the Thebans, as being descended 
of Draco, the son of Mars, and Tilphosa, one of the Erinnys ; 
and by the eagle, Polynices, to represent the terror of the battle 
which was between them. But it is more probable to suppose the 
poet meant to shew that hatred which was between the two bro- 
thers. For Plutarch, in his book, De Invidia et Odio, says, that 
between those two animals there is so prodigious a hatred, that 
their blood, when they are killed, mingled together, will not in- 
corporate into each other. Homer, Illiad xii. v. 201, describes 
a battle between them. And Virgil, likewise, iEneid. xi. v. 751. 

KoiJ/E ya^ civTov ep^ovla. jjura, r»5voj, iTu^oc oet^jjf. 

Utque volans alte, raptum cumfulva draconem^ 
Fert aquiluy implicuit que pedes ^ atque unguibus hcesit ; 
Socius at serpens sinuosa volumina versat, 
Arrectisque horret squamis, et sibilat ore, 
Arduus inmrgens ; ilia hand minus urget ohuncOy 
Luctantem rostro, simul cethera verherat alis. 



182 antigone. 

Strophe 11: 
^ The leader, Capaneus, beinj^ struck, fell back 
upon the earth, who, then raging, breathed fierce 
fury against the city with the violence of the most 
terrible winds ; thus w as it on one side, and great 
Mars ruling the right wing, and overthrowing their 
ranks, distributed other evils among others. The 
seven leaders being posted at the seven gates, and 
all engaged in single combat against an equal num- 
ber, left their brazen arms for Jupiter, the vanquisher. 
Except the terrible brothers, who, being born of 
one father and one mother, against each other arm- 
ing their victorious spears, did both partake the left 
of common death. 

Antistrophe II. 

But glorious victory came grateful to famed Thebes. 
But now forget these wars, and let us go to all the 
temples of the gods wdth nightly choirs; and let 
Bacchus, who reigns in Thebes, be our leader. 

But the king of the land, Creon, the son of Me- 
nceceus, having received some late commands of 
the gods, comes, revolving some serious thoughts, 
for ^ he hath called a council of the seniors. 

5 The leader, Capaneus.] He was husband to Evadne, and the 
fifth captain against Thebes ; who, just as he had mounted the walls 
by the help of the KXt^wajtE?, or scaling ladders, of which some 
will have him to have been the first contriver, he was beaten down 
and slain with stones. This gave occasion to the poets to feign 
that he was struck down with a thunderbolt. Euripides introdu- 
ces Adrastus speaking thus of him, because persons killed with 
lightning were thought hateful to the gods, and, therefore, denied 
burial and funeral rites. 

H ^ftJ^K, tepov uq viK^ov, S'a-vJ/at ^iXnq / 

Shall he apart be buried, as accursed 1 

^ He hath called a council of the seniors.] The persons whom 

Creon summoned to attend his council consisted of the most 

ancient men of the city : the otfice of the Chorus being more 

proper to the hoary head than those of younger years ; viz. to 



ANTIGONE. 183 



ACT II. SCENE I. 

Creon, Chorus. 

Cre. Ye honourable chiefs of Thebes, the gods 
\^ith much tumult having shook the republic, again 
have raised it. I have sent my messengers for you 
to come separate from all the rest, knov^ing this v^ell, 
that you always revered the power and the govern- 
ment of Laius; and likewise of Oedipus when he 
ruled the city; and when he died, that you still re- 
mained in the same firm faith towards his children. 
And since that they have fallen in one day by a 
mutual fate, striking and stricken with their own 
impious hands, I possess the power and kingdoms 
by right of affinity to those who fell. ' It is difficult 
to learn the heart, and thoughts, and soul, of any 
man, before he holds the reins of governments, and 
administers the laws; but whoever ruling a whole 
city doth not follow the best counsels, but out of 
fear shuts his mouth, both heretofore was, and now 
shall be looked upon by me the basest of men ; and 
whosoever esteems his friend more than his country, 
I by no means call him a friend. For I (let Jove 
know it, who sees all things for ever) cannot continue 
in silence, seeing a loss coming upon the citizens, 
instead of , safety; nor would I ever accept of an 
enemy of my country for a friend to myself. For I 
am sensible of this, that our country is that which 

reprove, give counsel in affairs of importance, comfort the sorrow- 
ful, &c. This Sophocles every where observes, for, where his 
Chorus consist of men, they are always supposed to be the most 
ancient. In Ajax, they consist of old Salaminian sailors; in 
Oedipus Tyrannus, of old Theban Priests and citizens ; in Oed. 
Col. of ancient Athenians ; in Philoctetes, of ancient sailors who 
followed Pyrrhus in his ship. 

^ It is difficult to learn the heari.~\ This is a proverbial speech, 
'first spoke by one of the wise men, »^%v? ixv^^ot. ^eilet, i.e. power 
will shew what a man is. 



184 ANTIGONE. 

preserves us all, and sailing with it right, we make 
more friends; with these laws 1 will enlarge the city. 
And now I have decrees of kin to these to proclaim 
to the citizens concerning the children of Oedipus, 
to lay up Eteocles in a sepulchre, who fighting for 
his city perished, performing the noblest deeds in 
war, and cover up all things with him which are 
given to the noblest of the dead : and again, that his 
brother (Polynices, I say, who coming a fugitive to 
his country and kindred gods, would bum them 
with fire from the foundation, would feed upon the 
common blood, and reducing them to slavery, lead 
them away) should be forbid the city, that any 
should lay him in a sepulchre, nor lament for him, 
but that he be suffered to lie unburied, and to be be- 
held as a carcass miserably preyed upon, and torn 
by dogs and fowls of the air. Such is my sentence, 
nor shall the wicked ever have of me the honour of 
the just ; but whosoever is benevolent to this city, in 
death and life he shall be alike honoured of me. 

C/io. These things therefore please thee, O Creon, 
son of Menceceus, concerning him who was an enemy 
to this city, and the other who was its friend ; it is 
every way in your power to establish laws concern- 
ing the dead, and as many of us as live. 

Cre. Therefore you should now be overseers of 
the aforesaid commands. 

CJio. Lay that burthen on some youth. 

Cre. There are already keepers of the carcass. 

Cho. What other thing is that you command be- 
sides ? 

Cre. Not to favour those who disobey the decree, 

Cho. There is no such fool who desires to die. 

Cre. That is, indeed, the reward of disobedience ; 
but, through hope of gain, often men have been 
ruined. 



ANTIGONE, 



185 



ACT II. SCENE II. 

Messenger^ Creon, Chorus. 

Mess. O king, I will not say that swift and hardly 
breathing I came with nimble pace ; for I had many 
resistances of cares, tm-ning myself round in the 
way for to return. My thinking soul spoke many 
things to me. Miserable man! whither goest thou? 
Whither wilt thou go and suffer punishment ? Thou 
wretch, wilt thou still tarry ? Creon will know these 
things from some other men, and then will you not 
have reason to repent? Revolving on these thoughts, 
being slow, I came along with leisure, and so the 
short way became long. In the end I came to this 
resolution, to come hither ; but if I say nothing 
agreeable yet I will speak, relying on this hope, that 
I shall suffer nought but death. 

Cre. What is it, from whence proceeds thy dis- 
couragement ? 

Mess. I will tell you all things that relate to my- 
self, I neither did that deed, nor did I see who did 
it, nor justly should I fall into any damage. 

Cre. You aim well, and palliate this business; 
you signify to shew something new. 

Mess. Great dangers cause great fear. 

Cre. Wilt thou not speak therefore, and afterwards 
go away freed ? 

Mess. Therefore I will inform thee, that somebody 
this past instant having buried the dead carcass, 
went aw^ay, and, sprinkling dry dust upon the body, 
performed all decent funeral rites. 

Cre. What sayest thou? What man is he who 
dared to do these things ? 

Mess. I know not ; for there was neither mark of 
spade there, or trench of shovel ; the earth plain 
and untrodden, nor tracked by wheels, but he was 
some unmarked worker ; and as the first watchman 



186 ANTIGONE. 

of this day tells the story, ^ it was a surprising 
miracle to all. He was not quite interred, nor was 
there any tomb erected, but there was cast on him a 
little small dust, ^ as of one who avoided the pollu- 
tion, no signs of beasts coming and tearing it, or of 
dog appeared ; but ill words were heard among us, 
one keeper blamed another, and had they gone to 
blows, none was near to have prevented them, for 
every one seemed to be him that did it, though none 
was proved so, but denied he knew ought of it. 
"" We stood ready to take up burning irons in our 

^ It was a surprising miracle.] The messenger who brings this 
news intends to amuse Creon, and make him think the action was 
something supernatural ; and, therefore, that the gods condemned 
his sentence as impious, that he might either revoke it, or slacken 
his search for the authors of the sepulture. For it appears, by 
several passages in this play, that none of the Thebans favoured 
his decree ; and, though he called a council on this occasion, it 
was not to consult with them whether the making of such a decree 
were convenient or not, but to inform them that he had actually 
resolved upon it ; and, he being tyrannical in his government, they 
durst not oppose him, though willingly they would have done it. 
All this may be gathered from these places following compared 
together; Act III. Scene I. where Creon says to Haemon, *' Shall 
" the city tell me what I ought to order," with Act II. Scene IV. 
where Antigone says to Creon, " For fear of you they shut their 
" mouths." And this is the usual manner of tyrants, to seem to 
enact their decrees in conjunction with and by the advice of 
others, that tfiey might appear just, when they are nothing less. 

* As of one who avoided the pollution.] Among the ancients, 
it was reckoned a great crime for any to pass by a dead carcass 
which lay unburied and not to bury it, and they who were guilty 
of that crime were called Piaculares, or impious. Hor. lib. i. 
ode 28, introduceth the Manes of Archytas, who was cast away, 
thus cursing any sailor who should pass by and not perform due 
funeral rites to his body. 

Debitajura vicesque superhce 
Te maneant ipsum, precibus non linquar inultis. 

•" We stood ready to take up burning irons.] It was an ancient 
custom for persons to swear to the truth of what they said, by 
throwing red hot iron wedges into the sea, after pronouncing many 
curses against themselves if they should break their vow, to 



ANTIGONE. 187 

hands, to go through fire, and swear by the gods, 
that we neither mten-ed the body, nor were confede- 
rates with him who first devised it, or who eftected 
it. But, in the end, when they find out nothing 
more, one speaks, who caused all to bend their 
heads tOAvards the oTOund fi^r fear ; we had nothins: 
to answer again, nor knew^ w ell what else to do ; 
and his counsel was, that deed must be disclosed to 
you, and not concealed ; and this opinion soon pre- 
vailed, and lot obliged me, an unfortunate man, to 
undertake '' that good w^ork, and I am present un- 
wilHngly, Avith those that will not willingly receive 
me, for I know^ that none favours a messenger of ill 
news. 

Clio, O king, my thoughts imagined once with 
myself whether that w as not the work of the gods. 

Cre. Cease, ere speaking you fill me with anger, 
and be found a fool, and old man too ; you speak 
intollerable things, saying that the gods have any 
care concerning this dead body. Will they honour 



signifs' thereby that the oath would remain inviolate as long as the 
iron should remain in the sea without swimming. It was thus 
Aristides bound himself and his soldiers to make their inteuded in- 
vasion upon Persia, after they had defeated the forces of Xerxes. 
Also, they had another way to clear themselves from the imputa- 
tion of crimes, which was thus : the person accused crept upon 
his hands and knees through the fire, or held in his hands the 
^v^oc;. or red hot iron, and those who were not guilty of the 
crime laid to their charge received no hurt by the fire. And this 
oath the Messenger tells Creon all the guards were ready to take, 
that they neither buried Polynices themselves, nor were any way 
privy to the action. 

The Saxons of this land had a custom, not much differing from 
this, called the fiery ordeal. The manner of this test was thus : 
the person accused passed blindfold through plough-shares, red- 
hot, placed at unequal distances from each other. Emma, the 
mother of Edward the Confessor, passed through this ordalium, 
and so vindicated her hv/uour from the scandal of adultery with 
Alwyn, Bishop of Winchester. 

" That good work.] This is meant ironically. 



188 ANTIGONE. 

him with burial as a benefactor who came to set on 
fire their pillared temples and offerings, and to lay 
waste their lands and laws? Dost thou see the 
gods honouring the wicked ? It is not so. But, 
formerly, the citizens, scarce bearing these decrees, 
spoke against me, secretly shaking their heads, nor 
did they, as they ought, bend their crests under my 
yoke, so as to favour me. And I know well that 
some of them by rewards are induced to do these 
things, for there is no such evil ever sprung up among 
men as money ; ° that lays waste cities, stirs up 
domestic strifes ; that teaches and changes the good 
minds of men to betake themselves to base deeds, 
hath instructed men to practise frauds, and know 
the impiety of every act. But as many as hired by 
reward have consented to do this act, have done it 
in a time that they shall suffer the punishment due 
to their crimes ; for, as I have a due reverence for 
Jove, know this well, (sworn, I say, to thee,) un- 
less you shew the author of this sepulchre before my 
eyes, death alone shall not suffice for you, ere living 
and hanging up, you shall declare the authors of 
this affront, that you may know from whence gain 
ought to be got. And, hereafter, you may learn, 
that it is not good to get gain by everything, but by 
filthy gains you may see more damnified than en- 
riched. 

Mess, Do you permit me to speak anything ; or 
shall I return, and go as I came ? 

Cre. Do you not know how troublesome your talk 
is? 

° That lays waste cities.] Philip, king of Macedou, often 
found this true, of whom it was said, that not himself but his 
gold overcame Greece ; and when, at a particular time, it was 
told him that a certain garrison was impregnable, he replied, cau- 
i^ot an ass laden with money enter into it. For 
Xpi/ao? uvoiyn 'Z3"a»Ta xat a\'a8 tavT^ai, 

Money opens all things, even the gates of hell. 



ANTIGONE. 189 

Mess. Are you bit in the ear or mind ? 

Cre. Why do you search out my grief, and where 
it Hes ? 

Mess. He who did it torments your mind, but I 
your ears. 

Cre. Woe is me ! how, thou art all mere talk. 

Mess. Did, therefore, I do that deed ? 

Cre. Aye, and by that didst betray thy life for 
money. 

Mess. W^oe is me ! it is cruel, if it seems true, to 
suspect a thing that is false. 

r Cre. Palliate your crime with florid speech ; but, 
if you will not shew me who did this thing, you 
shall say that gains unjustly got are dangerous. 

Mess. May he by all means be found out. [^Apart.^^ 
But, whether he be taken or not, (for fortune will 
determine that,) you shall not see me returning 
hither again ; and now, preserved beyond my hope 
and thoughts, I owe the gods much thanks. 



ACT II. SCENE III. 

Strophe I. 

Cho. There are many subtle things, but nothing- 
more subtle than man ; he traverses the hoary main 
in stormy winds by the ratling tumours of swoln 
sails, and pierces the supreme incorruptible land of 
the immortal gods, year after year returning to plow 
it with horse-kind. 

Antistrophe II. 

And skilful man, enclosing with his nets, takes the 
tribe of winged birds, wild beasts, and marine kind 
of fishes ; and overcomes, by arts, the fierce beast 
that treads the mountains, and taking the hairy- 
necked horse, puts the yoke about his neck, and 
mountainous unruly bull. 



190 ANTIGONE. 

Strophe II. 

He hath learnt eloquence, noisy cavils, and quar- 
rels about right of government, to avoid the injuries 
of rainy w^eather and of cold habitations ; expert in 
all things, unskilled in nothing that will come, will 
only not introduce the means to escape death, but 
hath to escape dangerous diseases. 

Antistrophe II. 

Having arts beyond hope, and the power of doing 
the most ingenious acts, sometimes abandons him- 
self to impiety, and sometimes conducts himself by 
the strictest rules of virtue. He is a nobler citizen 
who observes his country's laws, but may he for 
ever be expelled who hath not the courage to do 
what justice requires ; may he, I say, be ever 
banished hence, as the hated object of my soul's 
aversion, who is no better instructed. 

I consider that great miracle, and how, seeing it, 
can I deny that this is Antigone. O miserable 
daughter of a miserable father, Oedipus ! [Antigoiie 
is brought in.'] What, therefore, do they bring thee 
in as a rebel to the king's laws, and having taken 
thee in thy imprudence ? 

Mess. This is she who did that deed ; we took 
her burying him. But where is Creon ? 

Cho. In a fit time he comes out of the palace. 



ACT II. SCENE IV. 

Creon, Messenger, Chorus, Antigone. 

Cre. What is it ? what condign punishment hath 
happened ? 

Mess. My lord, there is nothing that men should 
forswear, the former thought falsifies the other ; for, 
I swore that, at mv leisure, I would come hither. 



ANTIGONE. 191 

because of those threats with which I was disturbed : 
but unhoped-for joy hath no pleasure equal to it, and 
I come, according- to the trust reposed in me, al- 
though forsworn, bringing this maid which was 
found adornihg the sepulchre. Here there was no 
lot cast, this is all my own private gain, and belongs 
not to any other ; and now, taking her yourself, my 
lord, judge and convict her as you will ; but, for 
my part, you ought to free me from the least suspi- 
cion of having any share in this crime. 

Cre. Dost thou bring her? How ; from whence? 

Mess. She buried the corpse. 

Cre, Art thou in thy wits ; or dost thou truly say 
what thou sayest ? 

Mess. I saw her burying that dead body whom 
you prohibited from burial ; I speak things plain and 
clear. 

Ore. How was she seen and found ? 

Mess. Thus was the case : when we were come 
back, having been threatened with grievous threats 
by you, brushing away all the dust which covered 
the carcass, and well uncovering the rotting body, 
we sat exposed to the wind on the highest hills, 
avoiding it lest it put forth an ill scent. One man 
provoked another with perpetual reproaches, if any 
one chanced to slacken his diligence : and thus 
the time was spent while the sun's splendid circle 
shone on high, difRising heat all round, and there 
arose from the earth a whirlwind, a celestial raging 
tempest, fills the field, shaking all the leaves of the 
woods throughout the country, the whole sky was 
filled with dust, we closed our eyes to avoid it, but 
some god had almost taken away our senses. After 
some time, when this was past, the maid appears 
and bitterly cries out, with the shrill voice of a bird, 
who, when her young are flown, sees her nest 
deserted. And thus as she beholds the naked car- 
cass, she laments, with sad complaints, and bitterly 



192 ANTIGONE. 

cursed those who did that deed ; by and by slie 
bears dry dust in her hands, and from a vessel of 
an ingenious worker in brass, copiously adorns the 
carcass with sepulchral libations. We seeing come, 
and immediately catch her not at all dismayed ; we 
argue with her concerning her former deeds; she 
was not backward to own any thing, but it was 
both bitter and pleasant to me : for that was most 
pleasant that I should be freed from evils ; but bitter 
to bring my friends into mischief: but I prefer my 
own safety to all things. 

Ore. Speak thou who bendest thy head to the 
ground ; w ilt thou confess, or else deny thou didst 
that fact. 

Ant. I own I did, and do not deny it. 
Cre. You may go wheresoever you will, free 
from all harm. [To the Messenger. 1 But do thou 
tell me, not tediously, but in few words, whether 
thou knewest not that these things were forbidden. 

Ant. I knew ; why not ? For they w ere plainly 
forbid. 

Ore. And dost thou then dare to transgress the 
laws ? 

Ant. It was not Jove, nor vengeance, companion 
of the gods below, who decreed those laws to men ; 
nor did I think that your decrees could prevail so 
much, that, being only a mortal man, you could 
run down the unwritten, firm, and law ful, decrees of 
the gods ; they are not of yesterday, but they for 
ever live ; none knows from whence they came, nor 
will I, fearing the haughtiness of any man, suffer 
punishment of the gods for the violation of those 
law s. I knew that I shovild die (why not ?) if you had 
not decreed it, and, if \ die before my time, I'll 
count it gain ; for whosoever lives as I do, in great 
evils, how will not he esteem it gain to die ? So to 
me to enjoy that fate is no trouble ; but if I suffered 
him a dead carcass to lie unburied, who is the son 



ANTIGONE. 193 

of my own mother, for that I should grieve, not for 
the other. But if I seem to you to act foolishly, I 
owe my seeming folly to your foolish judgment in 
thinking so. 

Cho. She declares herself the cruel offspring of a 
cruel father ; she knows not how to submit to evils. 

Ore. But know that fiercest minds submit most, 
that the strongest iron burnt, you may see broke and 
bruised, and with a small rein I have known the 
fiercest horses taught. It is not fit that he be of a 
lofty spirit who is a servant to others. She learnt 
well to act impiously, when she dared to transgress 
the established laws ; but when she had done one 
injury, it is another crime to glory in what she had 
done, and laugh at it. Now I am no more a man, 
but she, if unpunished, takes all this freedom; but 
if she were born of our own sister, or of any nearer 
than domestic Jove is to us all, she and her sister 
shall not escape most cruel death; for I likewise 
accuse her to have contrived this burial. Call her 
forth, for I saw her just now raging, nor in her right 
senses ; for those who contrive their crimes in dark- 
ness are commonly first betrayed by their own 
guilty mind ; and truly I hate when any one taken 
would afterwards excuse the fault with fair words. 

Ant. Wouldest thou do any thing more than kill 
me? 

Cre. Nothing; for with your death I shall be 
satisfied. 

Ant. What therefore wouldest thou? As none of 
your words please me, even so my words please not 
you ; but how could I obtain greater glory than by 
entombing my own brother? That maybe said to 
please all these, if fear did not tie their tongues. 
But tyranny, as in many other things it is happy, so 
likewise in this, that it is lawful for it to do and say 
as it will. 

Cre. Dost thou alone of all the Thebans see this ? 

o 



J94 ANTIGONE. 

Ant. They see it too, but for fear of you they 
shut their mouths. 

Cre. Dost thou not blush, if thou dissentest from 
them? 

Ant. It is not base to revere my own relations. 

Cre. And is not he your brother that lies under 
the earth ? 

Ant. Of the same father and mother. 

Ore. Why, therefore, dost thou give honour to that 
impious wretch? 

Ant. Even the other dead brother will not wit- 
ness so. 

Cre. Thou honourest him equal with that villain. 

Ant. He was not his servant, but his brother, 
who fell. 

Cre. Truly, wasting the land, while the other 
defended it. 

Ant. But death itself requires these laws. 

Cre. But a good man should not share like fate 
with a bad one. 

Ant. Who can say but the gods below approve 
this deed? 

Cre. An enemy is no friend, though dead. 

Ant. I was not born to hate with others, but love. 

Cre. When thou shalt descend below, if they 
must be beloved, love them who are there; but, 
while I live, a woman shall not reign. 

Cho. Ismene is before the gates, a cloud hangs on 
her eye-brows, and a flood of tears, shed for her 
sister deforms her, dying her beauteous cheeks. 



ACT II. SCENE V. 

Cieon, Ismene, Antigone, Chorus. 

Cre. Ha! Traitress, are you there? You, who 
at home, as a venomous serpent let loose, secretly 



ANTIGONE. 195 

hasc ifed upon my vitals. I did not understand be- 
fore that I brought up two such vile opposers of my 
lawful power. Speak, tell me, will you own that 
you partook of this sepulture, or would you swear 
you did not know of it ? 

Ism. If she agrees thereto, I partake thereof, 
and bear part of the guilt. 

Ant. But justice will not suffer that, since you 
neither would, nor did I communicate with you in 
that act. 

Ism. But I am not so ashamed of your crime, 
that I will not make myself a companion in your 
sufferings. 

Ant. Whose that deed is, Pluto and the gods be- 
low can witness. I favour not a lover of words. 

Ism. O sister, do not dishonour me by not per- 
mitting me to die with you, that I may sanctify 
myself by my death. 

Ant. Neither should you die with me, nor make 
that your own act, which you had no hand in. It 
shall suffice I die myself. 

Ism. And what life will be delightful to me, be- 
reaved of you? 

Ant. Ask Creon, you are one who hath a respect 
for him. 

Ism. Why dost thou torment m^ while thou gain- 
est no advantage to thyself thereby ? 

Ant. I am grieved, though I laugh at thee. 

Ism. In what other thing can I assist you ? 

Ant. Save yourself, I do not envy your escape. 

Ism. Woe is me, a wretch ! 

Ant. You have chose to live, I to die. 

Ism. But not according to my words which I had 
yet to speak. 

Ant. Thou thoughtest thyself wise in these w ords, 
but I in these think myself so. 

Ism. But tlie fault is equal to us both. 

Ant. Be confident, vou shall live. I stmggled 

o 2 



196 ANTIGONE. 

long with life, and now I give it up to henefij the 
dead. 

Cre. One of these girls seems mad but now ; but 
the other, ever since she was bom was so. 

Ism. The minds, my lord, of wicked persons, 
remain not wicked, but are converted. 

Cre. But thy mind remains wicked, since, witJi 
a wicked woman, you have chosen to act wicked 
deeds. 

Ism. And what to me were desirable in life witli- 
out her ? 

Ore. Do you not that regard ; for she is no more. 

Ism. Will you kill the spouse of your son ? 

Cre. Children may be got of others. 

Ism. But they agreed not on such conditions. 
' Cre. I hate my children should marry wicked 
wives. 

Ant. ° O dear Haemon, how thy father slights 
thee ! 

Cre. You grieve much, and your nuptials are 
disturbed. 

Is7n. Will you deprive your son of her ? 

Cre. The grave will end those nuptials. 

Ism. It is, it seems, decreed that she must die. 

Cre. And thou, likewise, cause no delays, but 
receive her into the palace, ye maids ; from hence- 
forth they shall not be set free, for even the daring 
fly, when they see approaching death. 

° dear HiBmon, how thy father slights thee.] This tender- 
ness of Antigone for Haemon is not at all unworthy her character, 
nor the least breach of modesty ; for, though she was not married 
to him, yet she was betrothed, which, among the ancients, was 
almost as great an engagement as marriage. 



ANTIGONE. 197 

ACT II. SCENE VI. 

Chorus. 

Strophe I. 

Cho. Happy are they whose lives do taste no 
evil ; for those upon whose family the gods bring 
afflictions, no kind of ill doth fail coming upon the 
last of their whole offspring. As the waves of the 
sea, when the sad Thracian winds exert their rage 
against the liquid element, roll out of the deep abyss 
a black heap of muddy sand, and the beaten shores 
resound. 

Antistrophe I. 

I see the ancient evils of the falling house of Lab- 
dacus renewed again, nor doth the suffering of one 
race free the other from the anger of the gods, which 
still pursues them to destruction. One glorious 
branch sprang from the ancient stock in the house 
of Oedipus, and the cruel dust of the gods below 
cuts her down, the folly of her words, and fury of 
her mind. 

Strophe II. 

O, Jove ! what man by his pride can restrain thy 
power, whom no sleep doth seize, which brings old 
age on all things, nor perpetual succeeding months 
affect ? An ever-living prince thou art, yet never 
old, who possessest bright Olympus. Past, present, 
and to come, are all with thee alike ; p this law by 

P This law hy no means?^ That law which the Fates have de- 
creed, from all eternity, concerning Jove, by which he is immor- 
tal and incorruptible, king of heaven, by no means reaches 
mortals ; that they should be x'^^^ *'-*♦ ^*'^°^ ^'^*'?> ^^"^^ ^*'^'" suffer- 
ings : but, on the contrary, they are subject to mortality and 
many other evils. 



198 ANTIGONE. 

no means extends to mortals, that it should free 
them altogether from evils. 

Antistrophe II. 

Hope, a help to many men, deceitful to the vain 
desires of others, ensnares him w^ho thinks himself 
secure, before he runs into danger. A famous pro- 
verb appears to have been wisely spoken. That what 
is evil will seem good to him whose mind God leads 
to that evil from which he is but a short while pre- 
served. 

But Haemon, the younger of your children, comes, 
lamenting the fate of his espoused Antigone, grieving 
to be defrauded of his bride. 



ACT III. SCENE I. 

Creon, H(jBmon, Chorus. 

Cre. We shall soon know better than any prophet. 
My son, is it so, that, hearing the final sentence of 
your spouse, you are come in anger with your father ? 
Are we not, in whatsoever we do, acceptable to thee? 

Hcem. O, father, I am yours, and you govern by 
a right judgment, and which I will follow. It is 
fit that no marriage should be esteemed greater to 
me than you governing well. 

Cre. For so, my child, it is fit you think in your 
mind that all things are of less esteem than your 
father s will. It is for this men pray for children ; 
that, begetting them, they may have them obedient 
in their houses, that they may repay their enemy 
with evil, and honour their friend equal with their 
father. But whosoever begets unprofitable children, 
what else can you say he doth, but beget sorrows 
for himself, and much cause of laughter for his 



ANTIGONE. 199 

enemies ? Do not, therefore, my son, sacrifice your 
reason to the love of a woman, knowing what a 
cold reception it is to lie within the arms of a wicked 
woman. What more dangerous wound than what 
is given by a false friend ? Therefore, as one who 
spits upon his hated foe, despise her, and suffer the 
girl to marry some among the dead. Since I have 
plainly caught her the only rebel of all the city, I 
will not prove myself a traitor to it, but will kill her, 
and tlierein let her implore Jove, the guardian of 
kindred ; for, if I suffer disorders to go unpunished 
in my own relations, much more I should in stran- 
gers. He that is just among his own relations will 
shew himself just to the city ; but whosoever violates 
the laws, and thinks to order those in power, it is 
impossible that he should ever get praise of me : but 
whom the city hath placed in power, it is fit to hear 
him in small things or in great, just or unjust, and 
he who doth, I am confident, would govern and obey 
well, and, being placed in the storms of war, would 
remain a good ally. For there is no greater evil 
than disobedience ; it destroys cities, it sets houses 
at strife, and in war it puts the brave commander to 
flight. But obedience preserves many subjects. So 
governments are to be defended by good men, and 
by no means to be subjected by a woman ; for it is 
better, if it must be, to fall by a man than to be 
called the subjects of women. 

Cho. Unless, through age, we are deprived of 
sense, you seem to discourse well upon this subject. 

H(jem. O, father, the gods give men a rational 
mind, which is the most excellent of all riches ; 
but, that you say not these things right, I neither 
can nor know how to judge ; for it may be that this 
may seem well to another, but your interest ought 
to be my care, in whatsoever is said or done con- 
cerning you, and when you are reproached your 
eye is terrible to the vulgar people, if they speak 



200 ANTIGONE. 

words which are contrary to your will. But I, in 
secret, can hear how the city laments this maid, 
who, of all women, does most unworthily and 
basely die for the most noble deeds ; who sufiiered 
not her own brother, fallen in fight, lying unburied, 
to be destroyed by devouring dogs or birds. Is not 
this worthy to obtain golden honour ? And this is 
the report which is secretly spread abroad ; but to 
me, my father, there is no more precious treasure 
than your prosperity. What greater glory can there 
be to children than a prosperous father; or to fathers 
than their prosperous children ? But do not appro- 
priate to yourself that custom to say, that that 
which you decree is only right and nothing else, for 
he who only thinks himself wise, or to have a tongue 
and understanding excelling all others, commonly 
meets contempt. But it is not unworthy a wise man 
to learn many things, and not contend over much. 
Thou seest at the flowing brooks how many trees 
do bend and save their boughs ; but those that re- 
sist are torn up by the roots. So the pilot of a ship 
who sails along nor submits to the winds, the ship 
turned upside down, and seats overthrown, is it 
possible that he should any longer sail ? But thou 
moderate thy rage, and revoke thy sentence ; for, if 
I have any understanding, being a youth, ' I say 



*■ I say that every man fraught with native wisdom.] There is 
a passage in Hesiod which better explains this : 

KeTvo(; [xlv 'sroivoi^iToi; hi; a,v\o<; 'mavloc vor^an, 
(^^oca-aoiixivoq, to, k iTrttla. act] Iq rsXoq eia]v ufAtUu. 

EctSAo? O dv KOCY-iTvOq Oq £V Bi'TTOvli TTlQjJTaJ. 

O? ^e KB iJt,rir ocvloq voEYi, iJLy}r ctAAa ukhuv 

The best is he whom Nature has made wise, ^ 
And he is next, to whom, when she denies > 

Her gifts, will hear what prudent men advise. ) 
But, for that fool, he scarce is fit to live, 
Who won't obey what counsel others give. 



ANTIGONE. 201 

that every man fraught with native wisdom much 
exceeds others ; but he that is not, (since every man 
is not so,) merits the second praise, who listens to 
those that give good counsel. 

Cho, My lord, it is fit, if he speaks to the purpose, 
you should hear him ; and you, Hsemon, your father 
likewise ; for it is well spoke on both sides. 

Ore. At these years must we learn wisdom from 
one so young? 

H(sm. It is nothing unjust; though I am a young 
man, it is fit you consider the business, not my age. 

Ore. The business is to honour those who act 
basely. 

Hcem. I would not desire you to honour the 
wicked. 

Cre. Is she not wicked ? 

H(Bm. The people of Thebes say not so. 

Ore. Shall the city tell me what I ought to order? 

Hcem. See how you have spoken like a very youth. 

Ore. Must any other than I govern this land ? 

Hcem. It is no city which belongs to one man. 

Ore. Is the city not reckoned to belong to the 
king? 

Hcem. You would govern well a desert country. 

Ore. He, it seems, contends for this woman. 

Hcem. If you are a woman ; for my care is for 
you. 

Ore. Vile youth, thus to oppose his father ! 

Hcem. I see you are to blame in acting unjustly. 

Ore. Do I offend by honouring the laws c f the 
kingdom ? 

Hcem. You honour them not, but tread down 
the honours of the gods. 

To the same purpose, Livy, in his book, De Urbe condita. 
Minutius convocatis militibus ; scepe ego (inquit) audivi, milites, 
eum primum esse virum qui ipse consulat quid in rem &it. Secun- 
dum, eum qui bene monenti obediat : qui nee ipse conmlere, nee 
alteri parere scit, eum extremi ingenii esse. 



202 ANTIGONE. 

Cre. Vile youth, thus to be captivated by a wo- 
man! 

Hwm. You shall not find me the villain you speak 
of. ^ 

Cre. This your vv^hole discourse is for her. 

Hcem. For you and the gods below. 

Cre. You shall not marry her alive. 

Hcem. And must she die? Then, dying, she will 
kill somebody. 

Cre. Art thou become so bold as to threaten ? 

Mcem. What, threatening to answer to vain words ? 

Cre. With tears thou shalt know how vain thy 
mind is. 

Hcem. Unless you were my father, I would say 
you were not wise. 

Cre. Woman's slave, prate not to me. 

Hcem, You would speak and not hear my answer. 

Cre. True; but, by Olympus, know you shall 
not have reason to rejoice reviling me thus with re- 
proaches. Go, bring that hated thing, that, before 
our eyes, she may die in the presence of her spouse. 

Hcem. Think not so, she shall never die in my 
presence; you shall not see my face with those 
eyes. You may be mad among which of your friends 
you will. \^Exit Hcemon. 



ACT III. SCENE II. 
Chorus, Creon. 

Cho. My lord, the man is gone swiftly away in 
anger ; such a mind in grief is fierce. 

Cre. Let him do or think more than is fit for man, 
he shall never firee those girls fi^om death. 

Cho. Dost thou think to kill them both ? 

Cre. Not her who touched him not ; you speak 
well. 



ANTIGONE. 203 

Cho, What death will you put her to ? 

Ore. Leading her where is a way deserted of all 
men, I'll hide her alive in a subten^aneous cave, 
putting so much food as shall serve her only as a 
purification, that the city may escape pollution ; 
there, beseeching Pluto, whom, of all the gods, 
alone she worships, she shall obtain freedom from 
death, or then she shall know that it is a superfluous 
work to worship the gods below. 



ACT III. SCENE III 

Antistrophica Strophe. 

Cho. ' Invincible love ! love, * who hast riches for 
thy object, Avho sleepest in the soft cheeks of a 
young maid ! thou traversest the seas and country 
villages ; none of the immortal gods is able to 
escape thee, or mortal men ; whoever hath thee is 
mad. 

Antistrophe. 
" Thou seducest the minds of unjust men to in- 
jury ; thou hast raised that kindred quarrel ; for 
the powerful love of the eye-brows of a young vir- 
gin fit for marriage, companion of those invested 
with powers and administration of great laws, over- 
comes Haemon, and Venus, the invincible goddess, 
plays upon him. 

^ Invincible love.'\ This song of the Chorus is on the great 
power of love, which, in this instance, hath set Haemon and his 
father at strife. 

* Who hast riches for they object.^ But then it is more proper- 
ly called covetousness. 

" Thou seducest the minds of unjust men to commit injuries.^ 
This was the effect which it had upon Hercules, who, purely for 
the love of lole, took Oechalia. 



204 ANTIGONE. 

AnAPtESTI. 

Now, seeing this, myself am forced to transgress 
the laws, and cannot stop fountains of tears, when 
I see Antigone going to her everlasting bed. 

[Seeing Antigone enter. 



ACT III. SCENE IV. 
Chorus, Antigone. 
Antistrophica Strophe I. 

Ant. You see me, citizens of my father s coun- 
tiy, going my last journey, seeing the light of the 
sun the last time, and no more to behold it ; but 
the grave, which covers all, brings me to the shore 
of Acheron, no partaker of Hymen's rites ; nor is 
there any bridal hymn sung to celebrate my nuptials, 
but I am given in marriage to Acheron. 

Cho. Therefore, glorious, and having praise, you 
shall descend to the cave of the dead, untouched 
by consuming diseases, without receiving wounds 
of the sword, but free, alive, and by yourself, you 
shall descend into the grave. 

Antistrophe I. 
A7it. "" I have heard that the miserable Phrygian, 



* / have heard that the miserable Phri/gian.] Antigone com- 
forts herself, under her affliction, by the example of Niobe. She 
was daughter of Tantalus, kmg of Phrygia, and wife of Amphion, 
king of Thebes, who, for her arrogant language to Latona, was, 
by Apollo and Diana, shot to death and turned into a rock, ac- 
cording to Ausonius, Epitaph 27. 

Bis septem natis genitrix tteta atque superba. 

Tot duxi mater funera quot genui. 
Nee satis hoc divis ; duro circumdata Saxo 
Amisi humatii corporis effigiem. 



ANTIGONE. 205 

the daughter of Tantalus, perished at the top of 
Sipylus, whom, as the ivy twines her arms about 
the elm, the arms of the rock enfold ; and, as the 
report of men goes, she is always exposed to the 
rain, nor doth the snow forsake her, but stains her 
neck beneath her ever- weeping eye-brows. Woe is 
me ! fortune makes me submit like her. 

Anap^esti. 

Cho. But she w as a goddess, and bom of a god ; 
but we are mortals, and born of mortals ; it is a 
noble thing to hear that you have shared the same 
fate with the goddess, now living, but art to die. 

Strophe II. 

Ant. Woe is me! I am laughed at. Why, by 
the gods of my father, do you injure me, not yet 
dead, but still alive ? O city, and wealthy men of 
the city ! O Dircaean fountain, and forest of famous 
Thebes ! I call you all to witness, how unlamented 
of my friends, by what laws I come to this dug 
prison. O wretch ! who, neither alive nor dead, 
am an inhabitant neither of the living nor the dead. 

Cho^ Arrived at the highest degree of boldness, 
thou art fallen to the lowest and worst of punish- 
ments. O princess, thou still maintainest thy 
father's conflict. 

Atistrophe II. 

Ant. Thou hast touched my bitterest cares, the 

My fourteen children made me haughty grow. 
But soon for each a funeral I prepar'd : 
And, turn'd by gods, relentless, to a stone, 
1 mourn my human shape for ever lost. 

Agathius writes her epitaph thus : 

'O TV/X,<00? «T0$ iv^OV »)t ij(li ViKVVy 

This tomb within no carcass doth contain, 
And this dead corse doth unentombVl remain. 



206 ANTIGONE. 

famous misery of my father, and the misfortunes 
which befel the noble descendants of Labdacus. O 
maternal crimes and kindred, conjunction of my 
father and miserable mother, from whom I am a 
wretched woman born, to them I go, an accursed 
unmarried inhabitant. O brother, who hast been 
most unfortunate in maniage, for thy death hath 
been fatal to me yet alive. 

Clio. To act piously is some piety, but yet let 
power be to whom power belongs, it is not to be 
transgressed ; but indignation, which you of Creon 
drew voluntarily upon, yourself, hath destroyed you. 

Ant. Unlamented, without friend, an unmarried 
miserable princess, I am lead to my death ; nor is 
it longer lawful for me, a wretch, to behold that 
sacred light of the sun ; none of my friends mourn 
my unlamented fate! 



ACT III. SCENE V. 

Creon, Chorus, Antigone. 

Cre. But, knowest thou not, none will cease 
mournings and lamentations before death, if that 
liberty be granted. Will you not lead her with all 
speed away, and, shutting her up in a covered 
tomb, as I said, leave her alone, there let her die, 
or lie covered alive under that roof? We are guilt- 
less of the blood of this maid ; but she shall be de- 
prived of cohabitation with us above. 

Afit. O tomb, hard marriage-bed ! O perpetual 
deep habitation ! Whither I go to my friends, 
whereof, a great number having perished, Proser- 
pine hath received among the dead ; whereof I, the 
last and worst, at length descend, before the por- 
tion of my life is finished ; but, since I must go, I 
nourish myself much with hopes, that I shall go 



ANTIGONE. 207 

beloved of my father ; of thee, mother, beloved ; be- 
loved of thee, dear brother ; since, with my own hand, 
I washed and adorned you, and gave you funeral 
obsequies. And now, by adorning your body, 
Polynices, I earn these rewards ; and I have honour- 
ed you with those who judged right. Nor, were I 
the mother of children, and if my husband were 
dead, had I undertaken this labour against a public 
edict. But by what law do I say this ? why, thus, 
my husband being dead, another might be had, and 
a child of another husband ; but if I am deprived 
of him, my mother and father lying in the grave, it 
is impossible that another brother should be born to 
me; and, by that law, preferring you, I thought 
fit to offend against Creon, and to dare tenible 
things, sweet brother. And now, taking me, he 
leads me away by the hands, without Hymen's rites 
or wedding, nor have I had the happiness to educate 
a child, but here, deserted of my friends, unfortu- 
nate, alive, I descend into the dark grave of the 
dead. What law of the gods transgressing? why 
should 1, a wretch, look to the gods? whom should 
I implore for my assistants, since, by acting piously, 
I have purchased dishonour ; but if this my punish- 
ment be acceptable with the gods, if I offend, I 
would forgive the authors of my sufferings ; but, if 
they offend, let them not suffer other evils than they 
unjustly bring on me. 

AnAPtESTI. 

Cho, Still the same violence of the storms of her 
soul torments her. 

Cre. Therefore, they that lead her shall feel the 
terrible effects of my rage for their slowness. 

Ant, Woe is me ! the sentence of immediate death 
is passed. 

Cre. I nothing comfort you that it will not be 
executed. 



208 ANTIGONE. 

Ant. O my father's city of Thebes, and the gods 
of my fathers, I am lead away, and am no more ! 
Behold, ye princes of Thebes ! the only queen left, 
what I suffer, and from whom, acting a pious deed. 

Antistrophica Strophe I. 

Cho. ^ The body of Danae endured to change 
celestial light for darkness ; bound by a brazen 
chain, and in a sepulchral bed inclosed, she was 
overcome by cruel fate. But she was noble by 
descent, and kept Jove's golden offspring in her 
womb ; but fatal power is ci-uel, for neither Mars, 
nor tower, nor ships beaten by the waves, escape it. 

AnTI STROPHE I. 

^ The angry son of Dryas, king of the Thracians, 
for his reproachful speeches, was bound by Bacchus 
to a rock with a chain, and so he loses his cruel 
florid madness in abusing the god. With reproach- 
ful language he made the raging women cease, put 
out ^ the lire of Bacchus, and disturbed the muses 
lovers of palaces. 

y The body of Danae.'] She was daughter of Acrisius, king 
of the Argives, who, being warned by an oracle that he should 
be slain by his grandchild, kept Danae up from the sight of men ; 
but Proetus, brother of Acrisius, first corrupted her keepers with 
gold, and then deflowered Danae. The fable is, that Jupiter 
came to her through the tiles in a shower of gold. 

^ The an^ry son of Dryas,] i.e. Lycurgus, king of Thrace, 
who, contemning the rites of Bacchus, was, according to the 
Poets, bound by him and cast down a precipice, by which his 
brains were dashed out. Others say that he was shut into a den, 
and so starved to death ; here it is said that he was bound to a 
rock ; but the truth is, that, seeing his subjects commit many 
irregularities, through wine, he caused all the vines to be rooted 
up ; whence they fabulized, that, being turned into madness by 
Bacchus, he cut off his own legs with a pruning-hook. 

The Poet doth not compare Danae and Lycurgus to Antigone 
in their crimes but in their sufferings. 

* The fire of Bacchus.] The ancients supposed Bacchus al- 
ways among the fire, to denote the strong effects of wine. There 



ANTIGONE. 20.9 

Strophe II. 
^ The shores of Bosphoms, near the Cyanean 
rocks, and divided sea, and "" Thracian Salmydes- 
sus, and neighbouring Mars, beheld the cruel wound 
given to the two sons of Phineus, inhumanly blinded 
by his fierce wife, in the wretched orbs of their eyes, 
not cut with swords, but with her bloody hands and 
the points of bodkins. 

Antistrophe II. 
The WTetches dying deplored the sad sufferings 
of their mother unhappily born ; she was a descen- 
dant of noble Erechtheus brought up in distant 
caves among her father's storms, daughter of Boreas, 
equal to a horse in swiftness on the high mountains, 
and daughter of the gods, but the Fates overtook her. 

was a festival kept in honour to him, at Pellene, in Achaia, by 
the name of Bacchus, ^a|M<?rT>j^, Bacchus, the torch-bearer, and 
the festival was called Xa//9r]»)f ^a h^v. This solemnity was in the 
night, and the worshippers went to the temple of Bacchus with 
torches in their hands. 

^ The shores of Bosphorus, near.~\ The Cyaueae were two 
islands, or rather rocks, near the Thracian Bosphorus, and 
divided the sea, hence, h^viJi-n ^a.'Kacraa,. 

^ Thracian Salmydessus.'] A river of the Thracians, near 
which was a Temple of Mars, wbence a.[x^7r\QKi<; ''A^nq, neighbour- 
ing Mars. The sense is, all these places beheld the wound, or 
near these places the wound was given to the two brothers 
Plexippus and Pandion, by Cleopatra : or, rather, by Phineus to 
his own two sons. The story is as follows : Boreas married 
Orithyia, daughter of Erechtheus, King of Athens, by whom he 
had Zetes, Calais, and Cleopatra ; the last of these Phineus mar- 
ried, by whom he had Plexippus and Pandion, according to 
others, Gerumbas and Spondus. After her he married Ideae, 
daughter of Dardanus, according to others, Idothaea, sister of 
Cadmus, who conspired against and murdered the sous of Cleopa- 
tra. Others say that, while Cleopatra was alive, he married 
Idaea, at which tlie former, enraged, blinded her own children. 
But most agree that Phineus, through the false accusation of their 
step mother, blinded his children by his former wife, for whicli 
himself was blinded by Jove^ and tormented by the Harpies. 

P 



310 ANTIGONE. 

ACT IV. SCENE I. 
Tiresias led hy a Boy, Creon, Chorus. 

Th\ *^ Princes of Thebes, we come the common 
way two seeing by one, for blind men go the same 
way with a leader. 

Cre. What news is this thou bringest 1 

Tir, I will tell thee, and do thou listen to the 
prophet. 

Cre. Did I ever before oppose your will ? 

Tir. Therefore rightly do you rule this city. 

Cre. I must own your assistance. 

Tir. Be wise then now in the very precipice of 
fate. 

Cre. What is it? How I dread your words? 

Tir. You shall know when you hear the signs of 
my art. ^ Sitting in my ancient hallowed seat of 
divination, where all kinds of birds flocked to me, 
I heard an unknown voice of birds crying with an 
ill fury, unintei-pretable, and tearing one another 
with bloody claws : I knew it, for the noise of their 
wings was not uncertain. Presently, fearing, I en- 
deavoured to offer sacrifices on the flaming altars, 
but the fire shone not from the sacrifices, but in the 
ashes the flame smothered, a cloud of smoke arose, 
the galls were cast up and spread abroad, the 

** Princes of Thebes.] The Scholiast observes here, that not 
only kings, but likewise honourable persons and wealthy citizens, 
were called avaxjg? or Koi^uvi^m. The reason of which is to be 
seen in our notes upon Oedipus Tyrannus, Act iv. note **. 

* Sitting in my ancient hallowed seat^ The Grecian Augurs 
had a place appointed on purpose for them, called by the general 
name of Sano? and ^wxo?, a seat, but more properly Ojwvtr^fjoir, 
and had power to assemble the birds from all places when they 
had occasion to use them. The Scholiast upon Euripides says, 
they used to carry with them a writing table, in which they wrote 
the names and flights of the birds, with other things belonging 
thereto, lest any circumstance should slip out of their memory. 



ANTIGONE. 211 

^ thighs lay spread without their wonted fat. These 
things I learned from the boy, that the ^ signs of 
certain auguries were lost ; for he is a guide to me, 
and I to others. These things the city suffers for 
your sentence ; for our altars and our hearths are 
defiled, being quite full of the food of birds and 
dogs that feed on the unhappy son of Oedipus, who 
was slain, nor did the gods yet receive our suppli- 
cations or flame of the thighs, nor the bird sound 
lucky cries, when he had fed on the fat of human 
blood. Consider these things, son ; it is common 
to all men to offend ; but after he hath offended he 
is no inconsiderate or unhappy man, who, having 

^ The thighs lay spread without their wonted fat.] The par- 
ticular parts of the sacrifice which belonged to the gods were 
called iW.>3^ot, and these they covered with fat, called in Greek 
«rf//,£A»3, or Kvia-a-'n, to the end they might consume all together in 
a flame ; for they concluded that their sacrifice was not accepted 
by the gods unless all was burnt. Thus we find them doing in 
Homer, llliad. a. v. 459. 



The jxri^o) were appropriated to the gods, because says Eustathius, 

TO ^^vo-iIsXbTv ToTq C^uoiq Etf ^a^sciv re xat yiviaiv. 

5 The signs of certain auguries were lost.] Tiresias finding that 
the omens given by the birds were unfortunate, tries another way 
of divination, called Uv^Q^xv\i\xf i. e. divination by fire, but with 
as little success, for still the signs appeared to portend impending 
mischief. For (as Dr. Potter tells us) the good signs were such 
as these, if the flames immediately took hold of, and consumed 
the victim, seizing at once all the parts of it ; on which account 
they usually prepared ra (p^vyxva,, dry sticks, which would easily 
take fire. Also if the flame was bright and pure, and without 
noise and smoke; if the sparks tended upward in the form of a 
pyramid ; if the fire went not out till all was reduced to ashes : 
contrary signs were, when it was kindled with difficulty, when the 
flame was divided, when it did not immediately spread itself over 
all the parts of the victim, but crept along, consumed by little and 
little; when instead of ascending in a straight line it whirled 
round, turned sideways or downwards, was black, cast forth 
smoke, &c. 

P 2 



212 ANTIGONE. 

fallen into evils, seeks a remedy, nor is unmoved ; 
for obstinacy is owing to folly: but give place to 
the dead, nor vent your rage against a dead man. 
What courage is it to kill a man already killed? I 
in benevolence to thee advise, for 'tis a most de- 
lightful thing to learn of him w^ho talks w^ell, if hei 
advises w^hat is advantageous. 

Cre. Old man, I know I am the scope of all your 
aims, for even the prophets are coiTupted against 
me by this family ; long have they borne me ill, and 
rated my person at no value. But make what gains 
of them you will; be bribed by ^ Sardine amber 
and Indian gold, but you shall never lay him in his 
tomb, nor if the eagles snatch and carry him to the 
throne of Jove: nor I, as fearing that pollution, 
will permit to bury him, for I know well that no 
man can pollute the gods ; but the gravest of men 
fall many and great falls, when they speak grace- 
fully many base speeches for the sake of gain. 

Ti7\ But doth any man know or think this? 

Cre. What is this you speak of, which all men 
know ? 

Tir. How much is pmdence the best of all riches ? 

Cre, And how much is to be unwise the worst 
of evils? 

Tir. And indeed thou art infected with that dis- 
temper. 

Cre. I will not contradict a prophet. 

Tir. But you do, in saying that I prophecy falsely. 

Cre. All the kindred of the prophets are lovers 
of gold. 

Tir. That is the manner of kings, they love filthy 
lucre. 



^ Sardine amber.] Gr. 'Eu^^em ^XekI^ov. Sardis is a rich country 
of Lydia, where Croesus once reigned ; it is near Pactolus, and 
abounded with precious metal, called electrum, a mixture of gold 
and silver, which they drew out of the mines with winged ants. 



ANTIGONE. 213 

Cre. But do you know what you say when you 
name kings ? 

Tir. I know, for through me you have preserved 
this city. 

Cre. You are a wise prophet, but love to act 
unjustly. 

Tir. You command me to speak things not to be 
mentioned. 

Ore. Mention what you will, so you do not speak 
for gain. 

Tir. So I seem to do as to your part. 

Cre. But you shall not make your gains of me, I 
am not of so easy a temper. 

Tir. But know well there shall not be finished many 
courses of the sun, ere yourself shall expiate those 
that are dead with one of your own sons, for which 
you have cast one down, and dishonourably shut her 
alive into a tomb. Thou hast here ' a body kept 

* A body, kept from the infernal gods, profaned.] This saying 
is founded upon a superstition of the ancients, who supposed that 
the manes of those who lay unburied wandered upon the earth 
one hundred years, as appears from Virgil, ^Eneid. vi. v. 325. 

Hcec omnis quam ceinis, inops, inhumataque turba est : 
Portitor ille Charon : hi, quos vehit unda, sepulti. 
JSec ripas datur horrendas, nee rauca Jiuenta 
Transportare prius, qudm sedibus ossa quierunt. 
Centum errant annos, volitantque hcBC littora circum : 
Tum demum admissi stagna exoptata revisunt. 

Alex, ab Alex, tells us, that at Tarentum, a town in Magna Grai- 
cia, there were Ludi Seculares, games kept every hundred years, 
to appease the manes, according to a precept in the Sibylline books : 
and farther adds, that it was reckoned a lawful sepulture, which 
was done by sprinkling dust three times on the body, with some 
prayers to the infernal gods. It was not therefore without reason 
that Tiresias, who was of this persuasion, should charge Creou 
with keeping the manes of Polynices from his desired Elysium and 
conversation with the infernal spirits. Virgil, ^Eneid vi. v. 365. 
Palinurus lying unburied is supposed to speak thus to iEneas : 

Eripe me his, invicte, mails ; aiit tu mihi terram 
Jnjice : namque pates. 



214 ANTIGONE. 

from the infernal gods, prophaned, nor celebrated 
with funeral obsequies, which neither concerns you 
nor the gods above. But these actions are the effects 
of your violence, of which the late revengers lie 
concealed below, and the furies, daughters of the 
gods, so that your crimes will meet with their deser- 
ved punishment. Consider, if corrupted by gold I 
speak these things ; for there will appear in a little 
time tribulations, lamentations of husbands and 
wives in your palace, all hostile cities rising tumultu- 
ously, Avhich the dogs have polluted with torn limbs, 
or beasts or winged fowls, bearing filthy odours to 
the altars of their city. And these strong darts have 
I as an archer launched out against thy angry heart, 
whose violence you shall not escape. Thou, O boy, 
lead me home, that he may exercise his rage on 
younger people ; know how to keep a stiller tongue, 
and ever be of a better mind than now he is. 

[Tiresias is led off. 



ACT IV. SCENE II. 
Chorus, Creon. 

Clio. O king, he is gone, after having prophesied 
sad things ; for I know that since the time that I 
from black hair was covered with white, he never 
propiiesied a falsehood to the city. 

Cre. I know it myself, and am disturbed in mind. 
It is sad to submit, and if I oppose, I am in danger 
to suffer for it. 

Cho. O Creon, good counsel now is necessary. 

Cre. Tell me what is convenient to be done, and 
I shall obey. 

For this reason the greatest of all imprecations was, that a person 
might a,roc,(po<; IxTrWIstv x^°^°^» *• ^' ^^^ unburied on the earth. 



ANTIGONE. 215 

Cho, Go and set free the girl from the covered 
vault, and honour the dead with a sepulchre. 

Cre. Is this what you approve of? Do you think 
fit I comply ? 

Cho. As soon as possible, for the swift furies of 
the gods pursue the ill-minded. 

Cre. Woe is me ! I scarce can quit my resolution, 
yet I will, for there is no resistance against necessity. 

Cho. Do it yourself, command not others. 

Cre. I go as swift as I can ; but you, servants, 
who are present and absent, taking axes in your 
hands, go unto the tomb's top ; but I (for my mind 
is altered) bound her myself, and will set her free : 
for I fear lest it should be best, while we live, to 
preserve the established laws. 

Strophe I. 
Cho. Bacchus, the glory of Cadmean Semele, 
and son of thundering Jove, who rulest famous Italy, 
and presidest over the ^ Eleusinian mysteries, com- 
mon to all, in the fields of Ceres ; Bacchus, who in- 
habitest Thebes, the metropolis of the Bacchanals, 
by the flowing streams of Ismenus, and the seed of 
the fierce dragon. 

Antistrophe I. 

^To thee sacrifices are performed on the rock 
Parnassus, where the "" Corycian nymphs of Bacchus 
walk, and the fountain of Castalia flows : the banks 

^ Eleusinian mysteries common to all.] Because people assem- 
bled from all countries to attend at the mysteries of Ceres in 
Eleusis. 

* To thee sacrifices, S^c] Literally it is, thee on the double 
headed rock the splendid flame beheld ; for there were two tops 
of Parnassus ; and one, called Nyssa, was sacred to Bacchus. 

" Corycian nymphs.] The muses so called, from Corycium, a 
cave at the top of mount Corycus, in Cilicia, dedicated to the 
muses: there was also another Corycium at the foot of Parnassus; 
whence they are called Parnassides, or Coryciae Nymphae. 



216 ANTIGONE. 

of ivy of the " mountains of Nyssa, ° and green forest, 
abounding with grapes, celebrate thee with sweet 
melodious songs, the governor of the Theban city. 

Strophe II. 

Which thou honourest above all the cities with 
thy mother Semele, who was struck with thunder ; 
and now, as the whole city labours under a violent 
disease, come to our assistance, upon famous Par- 
nassus, or the p sonorous shore, 

Antistrophe II. 

Thou ''leader of the Bacchanals, who sparkling- 
torches bearest, and ' overseer of nightly clamours, 
son of Jove, appear with 'your Naxian raging girls, 
who, raging by you all night in choirs, celebrate 
you, the governor lacchus. 

" Mountains of Nt/ssa.] There was a city in Ethiopia called 
Nyssa, near which was a mountain where Bacchus was worshipped; 
there were also several other Nyssas. 

° And green forest.] Gr. ;)(j^&;^a t' a«3a, green bank. In both 
Euboea and Parnassus there were vines which in the morning pro- 
duced fresh bunches of grapes, at noon they grew bitter, and in 
the evening they were fit to be gathered. Either of them may be 
here understood. 

** Sonorous shore.] By reason of the waves dashing against it ; 
the Boeotian or Sicilian shores. 

"J Thou leader, Sfc] Literally, leader of the fire-blowing-stars. 
He was worshipped by the name of iEtherius and Nuctor, but we 
are more justly to understand here hysxv^ 'mviovluv dre^uv, the lamps 
which the raging women carried in the night, when they officiated 
in the sacred rites of Bacchus. 

^ Overseer of nightly clamours.] i. e. Which the raging women 
made in tliese rites. 

' Naxian raging girls,] Naxos, or Naxia, was an island in the 
^gean sea, where Bacchus was worshipped, called Strongyle, and 
afterwards Dia: there was said to have been a fountain in it which 
ran wine. 



ANTIGONE. 217 

ACT V. SCENE I. 

Messenger, Chorus. 

Mess, Ye citizens of Thebes, the seat of Amphion, 
1 see not what kind of human life I can praise or 
blame : ^ fortune raises up and throws down, makes 
one fortunate, and another miserable : there is no 
prophet skilled in foretelling those things which will 
happen to m^n. Creon was happy as once it seem- 
ed to me ; he having preserved this Cadmean land 
from enemies, and possessing the whole government 
thereof, governed it flourishing, with a happy off- 
spring. Now all is past ; for, when men lose their 
pleasure, I reckon not that such do live, but count 
them breathing dead carcasses : be rich if thou w ilt 
at home, and possess a government; but, if joy be 
absent from all this, all other things the world can 
afford are vain, as clouds of smoak in comparison 
of real felicity. 

^ Fortune raises up.'\ Hor. lib. i. od. 35. 

O Diva, gratum quce regis Antium, 
PrcBsens vel imo tollere de gradu 
Mortale Corpus, vel superhos 
Vert ere funeribus triumphos. 

The messenger here tells the misfortune of Creon's house, as an 
iustance of this truth. The ancients supposed Fortune to be a 
goddess, and that she presided over all human affairs; therefore 
they built her temples, and persons of all ranks and stations pray- 
ed to her for her favour. See in Pind. Olymp. od. xii. 

SJIei^a rv^ccy tU ya,^ iv 'rrovla Kv^e^vuvroci Soai voisq, 

O Fortune, the preserver of mankind, the nimble ships in the 
sea are governed by thee; in the earth likewise success of war and 
councils on thee depends. She had in particular a famous temple 
at Antium, a sea-port town of Latiuni, and metropolis of the 
Volsci. 

But with more justice and piety the Psalmist ascribes this power 
to the most High, which they thought belonged to her, who is a 
name and nothing else. Psalm Ixxv, 



218 ANTIGONE. 

Cho. But what misfortune of the kings is this 
you come to relate? 

Mess. They are dead, but those that live are the 
cause of their death. 

Cho. Who is dead? Who is slain? Speak, mes- 
senger. 

Mess. Haemon is dead; slain with his own hand. 

Cho, " By his father's or his own hand ? 

Mess. Himself fell by himself, angry with his 
father for the death of Antigone. 

Cho. O prophet, how truly didst thou foretel this? 

Mess. These things being so, other evils are cer- 
tainly resolved on. 

Cho. I see the miserable Eurydice, and wife of 
Creon, coming out of the palace ; or having heard 
something of the youth, or by accident she is here. 



ACT V. SCENE II. 

Eurydice^ Messenger, Chorus. 

Eur. Good citizens, I heard a discourse going 
out to offer my prayers and supplications to Pallas, 
and opening the bars of the stubborn gates, a voice 
of some domestic evil reached my ears : I fell down 
trembling among my maids, and was amazed; but 
whatsoever was the discourse, speak it again, for, not 
unexperienced in evils, I will hear you. 

Mess. I will tell you, dear madam, since I am 
here, nor will omit the smallest circumstance of 
truth. For why should I sooth you up with those 

" By his father's or his own hand.] The Scholiast starts thi* 
question, why should the Chorus ask who killed Haemon, since, in 
the former words, it is said avrox^iq, with his own hand ; and thus 
he solves it, because the Chorus snatched the former words so 
quick, that they did not hear the latter. 



ANTIGONE. 219 

tales, wherein at last I shall appear a liar ; for the 
tmth is ever right. I followed your husband to the 
field, where lay the miserable body of Polynices 
torn to pieces by dogs, (and beseeching the goddess 
of the Ways, "" Proserpine, kindly to restrain her 
rage, washing in sacred water what was left of the 
body with oTeen bousrhs, we burnt it, and raised a 
high tomb of earth that was hard by. Again we 
descend to the maid's low prison, Pluto's nuptial 
chamber ; one hears a voice of mournings near the 
death-bed, unadorned with funeral pomp, and 
coming, signifies it to Creon, our master ; and, as he 
approached, he hears a moumfLd voice, then lament- 
ing he utters sad speeches. O me a wretch! am I 
a prophet? Do I go the most unfortunate of all 
ways that ever I went ? the voice of my child now 
strikes my ear. But, servants, go quickly near, and 
standing by the tomb, look through that open crack 
at the cave's mouth ; or I hear the voice of Haemon, 
or am deceived by the gods. We obey om* master s 
commands, and see Antigone, in the lower end of 
the tomb, hanging by the neck, entangled in a snare 
made of her girdle of fine linen, and Haemon fallen 
doAATi and embracing her about the middle, lament- 
ing the ruin of his bed, the deed of his father, and 
the cursed stony cave. When he beheld him, sadly 
lamenting, he goes to him, and, calling with a loud 
voice, thus speaks to him. Thou wretch, what hast 
thou done? What hast thou in thy mind? In what 
calamity art thou fallen? Come hither, humbly I 
beseech you. The youth beholding him, with dis- 
mal eyes, answered nothing ; but, spitting in his face, 
(kaws his two-edged sword, but ^ missed his intend- 

' Proserpine.'] The same with Hecate, or the Moon, and 
Diana. 

y Missed his intended bloiv.] This action of Haemon is blamed 
by Aristotle, as being cruel without necessity, and it is also with- 
out passion ; but, as Mr. Dacier remarks, as it is but a small cir- 



220 ANTIGONE, 

ed blow, his father escaping by flight. Then the 
wretch being angry with himself, that he was cross- 
ed, thrust the sword into the middle of his side; yet 
in his senses he embraced the tender arm of the vir- 
gin, and, breathing, sends out a swift shower of 
blood upon his pale cheek. Dead he lies by her 
dead: the wretched youth consummates his mar- 
riage in the chambers of death, proving, by his own 
example, how much rashness is the greatest evil 
among men. [Exit Eurydice. 

cumstance of an episode, and doth not enter the composition of 
the subject, it is less faulty. 

However these imperfect actions may seem in an epic poem, 
they are by no means to be admitted in tragedy. 

Aristotle hath wrote his whole 15 cap. to direct poets how they 
ought to conduct themselves in managing those incidents which 
cause the terrible and the pitiful ; of which I shall give the reader 
a short abridgement. 

We may represent actions, says he, which are done by those 
who act with an entire knowledge, as Euripides represented Medea 
killing her children. 

Or the actions of those who do not know the cruelty of their 
crimes, but when they are done, come to know the relation or 
friendship which was between them. 

Or of a person that goes ignorantly to commit a very great 
crime, and then recollects himself before he puts it in execution. 

These three ways are only proper for tragedy. The fourth is 
that which Aristotle condemns in the action of Haemon as the 
worst of all, viz. when any person goes to commit a crime volun- 
tarily and willingly, and yet does not execute it; for, besides its 
being horrible, it is no way tragical. The most vicious next is the 
first, because it is too horrible. The second is, without contra- 
diction, better than the first and the last, for it is not cruel be- 
cause of the ignorance of him who commits it, yet the remem- 
brance is very pathetic. 

The last is preferable to all the others, for it is not at all cruel, 
and answers the desire of the spectators. Whence it is plain, that 
neither this action of Haemon, which is prevented by his father's 
flight; Achilles drawing his sword to slay Agamemhon, and pre- 
vented by Minerva ; ^neas to kill Helena, and prevented by Venus ; 
however suitable they may be for an epic poem, are very unfit for 
tragedy. 



ANTIGONE. 221 

ACT V. SCENE III. 

Chorus, Messenger. 

Cho. What think you by this, the woman depart- 
ed before she spoke good or bad. 

Mess, I stood amazed at it, but am supported 
with hopes, that she, hearing of the death of her son, 
will not publicly shew her grief, but that, beneath her 
palace roof, with her maids, she will appoint a do- 
mestic mourning ; for she is not so weak in her judg- 
ment as to err in this matter. 

Cho. I know not, but this excessive silence to me 
seems sad, though much clamour indeed is vain. 

Mess. But we shall know when we go into the 
palace whether she conceal any desperate unlawful 
design in her angry mind, for well thou sayest, ex- 
cessive silence is grievous. 

Cho. But the king himself comes, having in his 
arms the dead body, for which himself is only to be 
blamed. 



ACT V. SCENE IV. 

Creon, bearing his sons body in his arms. 

Chorus, Servant, Messenger. 

Cre. Alas, the mighty faults of evil minds, great 
and mortal as you see, kindred killers, and killed 
by their kindred ! Woe is me, my unhappy counsels ! 
O youth of early fate ; thou art dead and gone, by 
my ill devices, and not thine. 

Cho. Woe is me! how late dost thou seem to 
prove the punishment of justice? 

Cre. Woe is me ! with sorrow I know it, for now 
on my head the goddess of revenge laying that 



222 ANTIGONE. 

weight, hath oppressed me, and in ill ways hath tor- 
tured me. Woe is me ! depriving me of my wonted 
joy. O the sad sorrows of men. 

Serv. O my lord, so it is with thee ; these are thy 
sufferings, thy son thou bearest in thy arms, and 
other evils in the palace thou art come to view. 

Cre. What other great evil is that? 

Serv. Your queen is dead, the unhappy mother of 
this dead youth, with fresh wounds. 

Cre. Vile port of death, why dost thou destiT)y 
me ? thou hast caused me to sutler unutterable griefs. 
What dost thou say ? 

Cho. Woe! and woe! again, thou hast ruined an 
unhappy man. 

Cre. What sayest thou, man? thou speakest some 
new speech to me. Woe ! woe ! to me, sayest thou 
my wife's body lies dead for the death of Haemon ? 

Serv. She may be seen, nor is she still in the 
chambers. 

Cre. Woe is me a wretch ! I see another second 
evil. What, O what other fate still waits me? I 
have my son in my arms, and see another dead body 
there. O miserable mother ! O son ! 

Cho. She with a sharp sword, near the altar, slew 
herself, mourning ^ the honourable death of Mega- 
reus, her former son, then of this, and last of all 
mourning your evil practices, as your son's mur- 
derer. 

Cre. Woe ! woe ! I am dead with fear ; why doth 
not some one give me a mortal wound with a two- 



* The honourable death of Megarevs.] By Megareus may be 
understood either a former husband which Eurydice had or a 
former son which was named first Megareus; but afterwards he 
slew himself to save the city, and thence was called Menoeceus. 
According to the former sense, the translation will be thus.: she 
mourned that she married Megareus, being so unfortunate in the 
loss of him, then her marriage with Creon. But my translation is 
according to the other sense, which I take to be the best. 



ANTIGONE. 223 

edged sword ? O wretch, I am quite immersed in 
sorrow. 

Mess. Being accounted the cause of both their 
deaths, by her who lies here dead. 

Cre. After what manner did she kill herself? 

Mess. By striking herself to the heart with her 
own hand, after she perceived the lamentable fate of 
her son. 

Cre. Woe is me ! these are not chargeable on any 
else, the cause is only ours. Miserable wretch, I 
killed you, I speak the truth. O servant, lead me 
quickly hence, who am no more. 

Cho. You advise what is gainful, if there be gain 
in evils ; for the smallest of the greatest evils are the 
best. 

Ore. Let my last day appear my last day, which 
will put an end to my misfortunes ; let it come, oh ! 
that I may not see another day. 

Mess. Those things are to come, something pre- 
sent must be done ; those things should be our care 
which deserve it. 

Cre. But I have prayed for what I desire. 

Mess. Pray for nothing, for no man hath freedom 
from destined calamity. 

Cre. Bear me hence a useless wretch, who have 
killed thee unwillingly, my child ; nor know I where 
to look, or where to betake myself; for my misera- 
ble fate oppresses me every way. 

Cho. ^ To be wise is much the greatest happiness ; 
it is not good to dishonour religion ; proud words, 
which often have been fatal to those who speak 
them, teach men to be wise in their old age. 

* To be wise.] These words contain the exode, or moral, of the 
piece. See the notes on the Oed. Tyr. Act V. Scene the last. 



t 



THE 

TRAGEDY 



OF 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS 



mvditnati^ ^evmnae. 



Oedipus, after he had pulled out his eyes and was expelled 

from Thebes. 
An Athenian, who first meets with and speaks to Oedipus and 

Antigone, 
Creon, Brother and Uncle to Oedipus. 
PoLYNiCES, Son of Oedipus. 
Theseus, King of Athens. 
A Messenger. 
Chorus of ancient Men of Athens. 

women. 
Antigone and Ismene. 

mute persons. 
Guards and Attendants on Creon and Theseus, and one Attendant 
of Ismene. 

SCENE — A Forest near the Temple of the venerable Goddesses, 

Q 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS 



The Argument. — This Oedipus is the same with him upon 
whom the other Tragedy of Sophocles of that title is composed, 
but distinguished by the epithet of Coloneus ; because, after his 
expulsion out of Thebes, he comes, being led by his daughter, An- 
tigone, into Attic Greece, to a hill where was a temple and grove 
sacred to the Furies, (it was called likewise the Hill of Horses, 
because Neptune, the first creator of horses, called, therefore, 
Equestris, or Rider, and Prometheus, had there a temple,) where 
he relates all his misfortunes ; taking that occasion from Creon's 
coming, in order to bring him back to Thebes, there having been 
an Oracle that wheresoever he died, and his sepulchre lay, the 
people of that country should be victorious over the other in the 
war between the Thebans and Athenians ; and, going to a place 
called the Brazen Way, near a cavity where Pluto is feigned to 
have snatched Proserpine to his gloomy dominions, he was taken 
away in a wonderful manner. This Tragedy was composed by 
Sophocles, in his old age, to gratify both his own countrymen, the 
Colonites, and the Anthenians. How well it answered his ends, 
the following story, related by Dr. Potter, is a sufficient proof, 

Sophocles, being accused by Jophon and his other sons, before 
the Phratores, of neglecting his affairs, through dotage, read to 
them this Tragedy, which he had then lately composed, and 
asked them if they thought a dotard could be capable of making 
such a Tragedy, whereupon he was immediately acquitted. 



ACT I. SCENE I. 

Oedipus, and Antigone leading him. 

Oed. Antigone, daughter of a blind old man, to 
what places are we come, or what city ? ^ Who 
now will relieve ^Yandering Oedipus ? Or with small 
gifts relieve his pressing wants ? I sue to none but 
for a slender alms ; and though w hat I receive be 
less than little, yet it sufficeth me ; for sufferings, 
old age, and, a third thing, nobleness of mind, 
teach me to be content. But, O daughter, if thou 
seest any ^ profane seat, or any sacred to the gods, 
place me there, that we may inquire where we are ; 
for it is fit that, being strangers, we should learn of 
the citizens what is convenient to be done. 



^Who now will receive ivandering.^ Gr. tk tov 'jrXctvvn'nv 'Oi^i-zs-sv 
^i^tlcti. I have translated the word rU here interrogatively, but 
it may likewise be understood to supply the place of the article ^', 
and to agree with the preceding word 'jro'hiv, and then the transla- 
tion will be, which will receive, &c. without an interrogation ; 
yet the former sense is most usual among authors. 

^ Profane seat.'\ Gr. •K^oq ^s^r^hoh^. This word is variously un- 
derstood, ^i&n'Koq ro'jroq is taken sometimes for the body of the 
temple, in opposition to the oi^vlov, beyond which it was not un- 
lawful for any one to enter but the priest. So ^b$y)Xo(; avv^ signi- 
fies a lay-man, one who is not initiated into holy orders, in oppo- 
sition to le^ey?, a priest. Thus Horace, Carm. lib. iii. od. 1. 

Odi profanum viilgus, et arceo. 
Favete Unguis, carmina non pritis 
Audita, musarwm sacerdos. 

Sometimes it is the same with ^ix^oq, or cixd^u^oq, a polluted or 
unclean person. Thus all who were d^s^rtXoi, or unpolluted, were 
permitted to pass within or beyond the Tre^ipfavryj^ion, a vessel which 
stood at the temple door, and contained the holy water, but the 
&i^Yi\oi were not. Thus Euripides. 'Ov ya,^ ^z^k; ^i^riXov aTrlso-^ai 
^ofjLuVf and ^v^aq y iv^l^Bcr^t (SsCnAot ; so here &i0r)Xoq totqc, signifies 
a place free for any to be in. 



228 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

Ant, O miserable father, Oedipus, the city, as 
well as I can conjecture at this distance, is sur- 
rounded by towers ; here seems to be a sacred place, 
abounding with laurel, olive trees, and vines, '^ many 
nightingales sing in it. Here ease thy wearied limbs 
on this unpolished rock, for thou hast come a great 
way for an old man. 

Oed. Set me down now, and guard a blind man. 

Ant. I am not to learn that after so long ex- 
perience. 

Oed. Canst thou tell me where we are placed ? 

Ant. Near Athens, I know ; but I know not this 
particular place, for every traveller told me that this 
was Attica. But shall I go and learn what place 
this is? 

Oed. Yes, child, if it be habitable. 

Ant. It is inhabited, but I believe there is no 
need, for I see a man near us. 

Oed. Coming hither in haste ? 

Ant. Even just here, and to him you may say 
what is convenient for you to speak, for the man is 
here. 



ACT L SCENE II. 
Oedipus, Stranger, Antigone. 

Oed. O, stranger, I hear from her who sees for 
me, and for herself, that thou art come to me a 
lucky spy, to speak what we are uncertain of. 

Stran. Before you inquire more, come out of this 
seat, for you possess a place which is not lawful to 
tread. 

Oed. What place is this? What god is it sacred 
to? 

^ Many nightingales sing in it.] This passage is exceeding 
beautiful in the original. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 229 

Stran. It is not to be touched or inhabited, '^ for 
the venerable goddesses possess it, daughters of the 
earth and darkness. 

Oed, Who ? For I desire to know their sacred 
names. 

Stran. The people who inhabit here call them the 
Eumenides, who see all things; but others are 
pleased to call them ^ by other names. 

Oed. But may they receive their suppliant with 
mercy, that I may not return out of this land more. 

Stran. What prayer is that thou hast addressed 
to the goddesses ? 

Oed. One which declares all my miseries. 

Stran. But I have not confidence to be longer 
absent from the city ere I declare what is to be 
done. 

I Oed. Now, by the gods, stranger, do not slight 
me, though I am such a wanderer, but resolve my 
doubts. 

Stran. Command me, for I will not slight thee. 

Oed. What, therefore, is the place to which we 

are come ? 

\ Stra7i. As far as my knowledge can inform thee, 

thou shalt know all things. This whole place is 

sacred, reverend Neptune presides over it, and the 

^ For the venerable goddesses.] Phylarchus says they were two, 

and had each a statue at Athens : Polemon three, viz. Alecto, 

I Megaera, and Tisiphone. They were, according to Sophocles, 

i the daughters of the earth and darkness ; but to others of Nox 

and Acheron. Euphorion calls them the daughters of Phorcus or 

Phorcon, a sea-monster, son ofPontus and Terra. 

j ' * Bi/ other names.] As Iprnve;, or o-biavoi.) ^eoc). The Sicyonians, 

\ Athenians, and others, called them Ev[ji,£vihq, i. e. favourable or 

propitious ; out of an opinion that their true names were unlucky 

omens : or, by an Antiphrasis, being quite contrary to favourable; 

for they are said to be the revengers of impiety, and to have 

snakes knit with their hair, who, by their biting, express the stings 

j of consQience which accompany all wicked actions. Yet Philemon, 

1 a comic poet, will have it, that the a-ifAvct), or g/x{po^ot $£»*, were 

different from the Evf^tvi^t<;. 



230 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

fire-bearing god, ^ Prometheus, the Titan ; that \ 
place of the earth thou treadest upon is called the i 
^ Brazen Way, the defence of Athens ; and the i 
neighbouring villages pray that this verdant hill may j 
be their defence, and thence they have all their com- 
mon names of Colonites. This is the state of the 
case, not more known by reports than by certain 
knowledge. 

Oed. Doth any one inhabit these places ? 

Stran. Yes, and they are named from the god. 

Oed. Doth any govern them ; or is the command 
in the multitude ? 

Stran. These countries round the city are govern- 
ed by the king. 

Oed. But who is it whose voice and power com- 
mands ? 

Stran. He is called Theseus, son of the former 
iEgeus. 

Oed. And would not any messenger go from you 
to him? 

Stran. To say what? To desire him to come 
hither ? 

Oed. That, affording a little, he may gain much. 

Stran. What help can we expect from a man who 
cannot see ? 

Oed. Whatsoever we shall say shall be as plain 
as if we saw. 



^ Prometheus, the Titan.'] He is worshipped at Athens, as is 
Vulcan likewise ; where, in the academy, Prometheus being the 
elder, is placed on the right hand, holding a sceptre, and Vulcan 
on the left. He is called Titan by way of comparison, because, 
without permission from Jupiter, he stole fire from heaven, and 
gave it to men, for which he suffered the same punishment with 
the Titans, brother- sons of Saturn, viz. he was fixed under 
Mount Caucasus, and a vulture always was knawing on his liver. 

s The Brazen Way.] A place so called in the temple ; it was 
said there was a passage that way to Hades. It takes that epithet 
from the brazen mines with which the hill abounded, where the 
grove and temple stood. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 231 

Iftran. Hear then my proposal : mistake me not, 
stranger ; since thou art noble as thou seemest to 
me, beyond thy fortune, remain there where thou 
art, until I go and tell these things to my neighbours, 
who are here, and not to the citizens, for they will 
judge whether it be fit you stay or return again. 



ACT I. SCENE III. 
Oedipus, Antigone. 

Oed. O daughter, is not the stranger gone from us ? 

Ant. He is gone, father, so that every thing is in 
quiet, and you may speak as being near me alone. 

Oed. O venerable Furies, since I now first have 
sat upon this earth be not to me and Apollo unkind, 
who, after having pronounced concerning me many 
unfortunate oracles, said, that here should be my 
rest after many tedious years, coming to the borders 
of this country, where I might receive a seat, and 
reception from the venerable goddesses, and ^ there, 

^ There, inhabiting, lay down.] The passage which the old 
Scholiast cites, from Lysimachus, seems to contradict Sophocles's 
fiction of Oedipus's dying in Attica, which is as follows : When 
the friends of Oedipus would have buried him in Thebes, they 
were hindered by the Thebans, because of the plague inflicted on 
them upon his account : whereupon they took his body, and bu- 
ried it, atCeus, in Boeotia; but, some misfortunes happening to the 
inhabitants, they judged that the body of Oedipus lying there 
was the occasion of them ; whereupon they ordered his friends 
to take away the body, which they did, and privately buried it in 
the temple of Ceres, in Eteonus ; but the inhabitants thereabouts, 
hearing of it, consulted their God, whether to cast him out 
thence or not: his answer was, that they should not stir him, be- 
ing a suppliant of the goddess. The temple is called from him 
Oedipodium. 

But there is no truth in it neither, if we may believe Horner^ 
who speaks of his dying at Thebes. II. -vj/. 

"O? Troll 0J7|3a? riXQt ^e^sttotoij OJ^twodao 
E? taOov. 



232 OEDIPUS CULONEUS. 

inhabiting, lay down my miserable life, 'to those 
who receive me gain, but loss to those who sent me 
hither, who drove me out. He likewise foretold, 
that signs would appear to me of these things, or 
earthquake, or thunder, or lightning of Jove : and 
now I know, that doubtless some faithful augury 
from you hath led me this way into this forest, for it 
cannot be that in my travels I should meet with you 
first by accident, (I being sober ^ and you averse to 
wine,) or sit upon this venerable and unpolished 
seat. Wherefore, O goddesses, according to the 
answers of Apollo, grant me here an end and catas- 
trophe of my life ; unless I seem to have had some- 
thing too small trouble, although always oppressed 
by the greatest evils incident to mankind. Come, 
therefore, O sweet children of old darkness ; come, 
who from most mighty Pallas art called, O Athens, 
the most honourable of cities ; pity this miserable 
image of Oedipus, for this is not the ancient body. 

Ant. Be silent, for hither come some ancient men 
as viewers of your seat. 

^ To those who receive me gain, but loss.] The Scholiast thinks 
the Athenians and Thebans were then at strife, and that the poet 
says this to gratify the former. 

^ And you averse to wine.] Gr. vvicpuv doUoK;, sober to you 
sober, so called because their sacrifices consisted of water. And 
Polenion says, that the Athenians sacrificed sober sacrifices or 
libations likewise to Memory, the Muses, the Morning, the Sun, 
Moon, Nymphs, Urania Venus. Crates says, likewise, that all 
wood, except that of the vine, was called vr)(poiXia, ^vXa,. But Phi- 
lochorus, on the other hand, says, that thyme was the only wood 
which was so called, and the first that was ever used for burnt 
offerings, l|U9rt;§«? ^vaiotq, and that therefore it takes its name of 
thyme, from ^vu, to sacrifice. The learned Doctor Potter is of 
opinion, that there was a particular reason why each of these be- 
fore-mentioned deities were honoured with such oblations : first, 
the Eumenides, because the divine justice ought always to be vigi- 
lant. Secondly, the Sun, because he by whom all things are en- 
compaaicd and held together, ought to be temperate. Thirdly, 
Bacchus, that men might not always be accustomed to strong and 
unmixed wines, &c. See Archaeol. Graec. vol. i. p. 212. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 233 

Oed. I will be silent, and thou lead me out of the 
way and hide me in the forest, that I may hear what 
they will say, for by hearing we may learn what to 
do. 



ACT I. SCENE IV. 

They withdraw farther into the Forest, and enter the 
Chorus of ancient Men of Athens. 

Cho. * See, but who is he? Where doth he hide? 
Where is the wandering exile, ™ the most insatiable 
of all men? search him: look, see, call every where 
for this wanderer, this old wanderer ; he is no inha- 
bitant, otherwise he would never have come to this 
inaccessible forest of the invincible goddesses, whom 
we tremble to mention " and pass by without speech 

' SeCy but who is he? where, &fc.^, The Chorus hearing of 
Oedipus's placing himself in that forbidden place, first comes in 
and expostulates in the following manner. See, but who is he?- 
Where doth he hide ? Where is the wandering exile, &c. 

Although the Chorus entereth here, yet this is not the first song 
of the Chorus, or the Parodos, but they speak here without sing- 
ing: it would indeed have been very unnatural, had the Chorus 
here entered singing, before they were instructed in the action, in 
which they were to be concerned. But after Oedipus had placed 
himself in the temple and grove of the Eumenides, and given occa- 
sion to the assembling of the Chorus, and they had informed both 
themselves and the audience in the nature of the action, they then 
begin the Parodos, or first song, and aot their part as a Chorus, 
who before only joined in speaking the prologue, that is, all that 
precedes the first song of the Chorus. This distinction is to be 
observed between the Parodos, or first song of the Chorus and its 
discourse in all the tragedies of the ancients; although, for want of 
having sufficiently examined this practice, the latter hath been 
taken for the former. The first song of the Chorus always closeth 
the first act, and in this tragedy begins at the words, 'Euiw^rs Isve 
rciah ^u^xq. And ends with vn^vi'i^uv a>toA«6o$. 

"" The most insatiable. ~\ i. e. Whom no other place could satisfy. 

° And pass by without, <5f c] As persons in dread of some im- 
pending danger dare not speak or think of any thing but what is 
most pure and innocent. 



234 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

or thought, but speaking words of lucky omen. And 
now it is said that some one is come without any re- 
verence to this hallowed place, whom I looking for 
through the whole forest cannot know where he is hid. 

Oed, Here I am ; I heard what you said. 

[Oedipus at a distance speaks. 

Clio. Alas, alas ! terrible to look on, and terrible 
to hear. 

Oed, I beseech you look not on me as an impious 
man. 

Cho. O Jupiter, the Defender, who is this old man? 

Oed, Governors of this land, not altogether one 
whom }'0u may judge happy for my former fortune, 
that is plain ; for otherwise I had not crept hither 
with other eyes than my own, nor, at this age, come 
hither on a small account. 

Cho, Alas, alas! for those blind eyes most un- 
happy you are, an unfortunate old man, as thou 
seemest; but thou shalt not charge on us those 
curses which attend this rashness ; thou goest where 
it is not lawful for thee to go. Come not on this 
herby silent grove, where a full cup of water mixed 
with wine is offered to the venerable goddesses. 
Take good care of this, unfortunate stranger, avoid 
it. Be gone, the long distance interposes. But 
dost thou hear, thou wretched wanderer, if thou 
givest any attention to my speech, go from these in- 
accessible places, and speak, where the same liberty 
is allowed to all ; but first curb thyself. 

Oed. Daughter, what can one think ? 

Ant, Father, it is necessary you think with the 
citizens, and willingly submit to them. 

Oed, Now take hold of me. 

Ant. I do hold thee. 

Oed. O stranger, let me not be hurt, since trusting 
to you I come forth. 

Cho. By no means, jione shall lead thee unwil- 
lingly from those seats. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 235 

Oed. Still, therefore, still shall I advance. 

[Oedipus comes forward, led by Antigone, 

Clio. Advance more forward. 

Oed. Yet? 

Cho. Come forward, maid, for thou hearest. 

Ant. But follow, follow this way, father, with thy 
dark body, where I lead ; and, being a stranger, 
content yourself to know no other bounds of right 
and wrong than what are here prescribed. 

Oed. Do thou lead me now, child, that when we 
come, we may speak with piety, and likewise hear 
and not resist necessity. 

Clio. There, move not thy foot from that thresh- 
old which bounds the inaccessible way. 

Ant. Thus? 

Clio. Enough. Stand. [Comes forward. 

Oed. Shall I sit? 

Clio. Across on the top of the rock, bending for- 
ward a little. 

Ant. Father, this is my business, gently to direct 
each step you tread ; therefore commit your ancient 
body to my loving hand. [Placing him down. 

Oed. Woe is me, sad misfortune ! 

Clio. O wretch, since you are now easy, tell who 
are thy parents, and who art thou, who so miserably 
art led ? 

Oed. Strangers, I am a banished man; but do 
not 

Cho. Why dost thou refuse that, old man? 

Oed. Ask me not who I am, nor search, nor in- 
quire farther. 

Cho. What is that? 

Oed. Wretched race. 

Cho. Speak. 

Oed. Woe is me, daughter! what shall I say? 

Cho. Of what race art thou, stranger? speak, of 
what paternal descent ? 

Oed, Woe is me, my child ! what shall I suffer ? 



236 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

Ant, Speak, since thou art now at the last extre- 
mity. 

Oed. I will speak, for I cannot be secret. 

Cho. You delay long, but make haste. 

Oed, Know ye the son of Laius ? 

Cho. Woe is me ! 

Oed. Descendant of Labdacus. 

Cho. O Jupiter ! 

Oed. Unhappy Oedipus. 

Cho. Art thou he? 

Oed. Fear not what I say. 

Cho. Woe! woe! 

Oed. Unhappy I. 

Cho. Ah! ah! 

Oed. Daughter, what will be the event ? 

Ant, Get thee far hence out of this country ; but 
what can you answer to justify your breach of pro- 
mise ? 

Cho. Fatal punishment will fall on none for re- 
venging those injuries he hath suffered, and ° frauds 
are more justly recompensed by frauds than favours : 
but thou again return out of these places, and leave 
our land, lest you constrain our city to use some act 
of violence against you. 

Ant. P O reverend strangers, since you endure 
not my old blind father, having heard the report of 
his involuntary crimes, yet we beseech you pity me, 
a wretch, who supplicate for my father, who behold- 
ing your presence with awful eyes, as one sprang 
from your blood, pray that this miserable man may 
find reverence vdth you. We, wretches, rely on you 
as on a god. Go, grant this unhoped-for kindness, 

° Frauds are more justly recompensed.] The Chorus finding 
out the truth, i. e. that he was a polluted person, think themselves 
not bound by their promise, in regard that he had deceived them. 

P O reverend strangers.] Here Antigone finding the despicable 
case they were in, bespeaks their compassion in very moving 
terms. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 237 

I beseech you, if you have ought that is dear to you, 
care for your offspring, regard for your promise or 
your interest, or reverence to God. For there is 
none of all mankind who can escape when God 
misleads him into secret crimes. 

Cho. But know, daughter of Oedipus, we pity 
thee and him by reason of his calamity : but fearing 
from the gods we cannot speak other language than 
what we have spoke to you already. 

Oed. What advantage is there in glory or fame 
founded on false reports, when they say "^ Athens is 
the most pious city, and only city for protecting a 
stranger, and for helping him ? Do I experience this 
truth ? for, first having removed me from these seats, 
you expel me hence, fearing only my name : not this 
my person or my crimes, since my crimes are rather 
what I suffered than acted. If you must speak to 
what concerns my father and mother, on whose ac- 
count you fear me, which I know very well, how am 
I in nature bad, who suffering violence repaid it 
back? So that if with perfect knowledge I had done 
it, yet were I worthy of pardon ; but I through igno- 
rance fell into those misfortunes ; they who expelled 
me did it knowing what they did. Wherefore, 
strangers, I beseech you, by the gods, since you have 
moved me from my place, preserve me here, lest 
while yoLi seem to honour the gods you honour them 
not at all ; but you will see that they regard good 
men, and wicked too, and that no wicked man shall 
escape divine vengeance. Do not, therefore, by 
aiding in impious acts, dishonour happy Athens ; but 
as you have received me a suppliant, and as you 
have given me your promise, preserve me, defend 
me, nor, seeing my wretched head, dishonour me. 



^ Athens is the most pious city.'] There was (says the Scholiast) 
an altar at Athens raised to "E^io?, /. e. Mercy, whom they adored 
as a goddess. 



238 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

for I come holy and pious, and bringing assistance 
to these citizens. When the lord is present who is 
the prince, he shall hear and know all my state ; 
but till then by no means be unkind. 

Cho. It is very just, old man, we should revere 
your arguments, which have been urged not with 
few words ; it sufficeth us that the governors of this 
land know all. 

Oed. Do you think he will have any reverence or 
care of a blind man ? and that he will come without 
reluctance? 

Cho. Doubtless, when he hears your name. 

Oed. Who will tell him that? 

Cho. The way indeed is long, yet much frequent- 
ed by travellers, who spread abroad all news. Be 
confident he hearing this will come ; for your name, 
old man, hath reached all people's ears: so that, 
though dull he sleeps, hearing of you he will come 
hither quickly. 

Oed. But may he come in an auspicious hour to 
this city and to me ; for what good man is not a 
friend to himself? 

Ant. O Jupiter, what shall I say, or whither shall 
Igo? 

Oed. What is it, daughter ? 

Ant. I see a woman coming near us upon a Sici- 
lian horse, and a Thessalian hat to hide her from the 
sun, upon her head, covers her face. What shall I 
say ? Is it she or is it not ? or doth my judgment 
wander so in doubtfulness that I know not what to 
say, a wretch ? she is no other but Ismene, for her 
cheerful eyes declare she is. 

Oed. What hast thou said, child? 

Ant. That I see your daughter and my sister; but 
by her voice we may soon know. 



OEDIPUS CQLONEUS. 239 

ACT I. SCENE V. 

Oedipus, Antigone, Ismene, Chorus. 

Ism. O meeting the most agreeable to me of my 
father and sister, with what difficulty I have found 
you, and having found you with grief I see you. 

Oed. My child, thou art come. 

Ism. My father, miserable object to behold. 

Oed. O daughter of my own blood. 

Ism. Unhappy father. 

Oed. Daughter do I behold thee? 

Ism. But not free from sorrow. 

Oed. Touch me, child. 

Ism. I embrace you both together. 

Oed. Her and me ? 

Ism. And me the unhappy third. 

Oed. Child, why art thou come ? 

Ism. Out of care for you. 

Oed. The love of us? 

Ism. And likewise to tell you, that with this only 
faithful servant I came hither. 

Oed. But your younger brothers, where are they, 
at labour ? 

Ism. They are where they are ; there are sad dis- 
turbances now among them. 

Oed. How are they all conformed to the ^Egyptian 
laws, both in disposition and manner of life, /^ for 
there the men sit at home, working with the spindle, 

' For there the men.] This custom was introduced by Sesostris, 
who imposed the duties of men on women, and of women on 
men : for, in order to change their dispositions, as well as their 
different tasks, he ordered the men to go bare-headed, but the 
women to let their hair grow ; the men to bear their burthens on 
their heads, but the women on their shoulders ; the men to make 
water sitting, but the women standing ; the men to wear but one 
garment, and the women two. This was done that there minds 
being emasculated, they might be the less able to resist his usurped 
power. 



240 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

but their wives always abroad prepare all things 
necessary for the support of life. So those of you, 
my child^n, whom it was fit should labour, keep 
house like virgins, but you instead of them, for my 
sake, in my afflictions, employ all your pains for 
Antigone, since she left her infant food and her 
strength grew ripe, always an unhappy wanderer, 
with me led her life; often in the dismal woods 
without food, her tender feet inured to pain, in cold 
rains drenched, and scorched with the extremities 
of burning sunny heats, neglected the comforts of 
retirement at home, so she might get food for her 
father. But you, O daughter, went out before to 
bring all the oracles to thy father unknown to the 
Thebans, which are delivered concerning me. 
Thou hast been a faithful keeper to me since I was 
expelled out of the land, but now what message 
dost thou bring, Ismene, to thy father ? What war- 
like expedition hath driven thee from home ? Thou 
art not come empty, that I know well, but bringest 
some terrible news to me. 

Ism. The sufferings, father, which I suffered 
seeking for you, I will pass by, (for I will not renew 
my griefs, by a fruitless narration of them,) but 
what evils are now among your unfortunate chil- 
dren, those I come to declare. Before there was 
a contention between them whether the kingdom 
should descend to Creon, and the city not to be 
polluted ; then they reasoned concerning the ancient 
stain which polluted your miserable house. But 
now, from some of the gods, or a destructive spirit, 
sad strife is risen among the wretches themselves, 
who should possess the government and despotic 
power ; and the younger and inferior by age deprives 
Polynices, who was first born, of the throne, and 
drives him out of the country. Now he (as fame 
reports) coming to Argos, a fugitive, takes his new 
kindred and friends for his companions in the war, 



OEDIPUS COLONELS. ^41 

that the glory of the Argians may mount to the skies 
by the ruin of the Theban land ; and these are not 
a mere multitude of words, but such as truly declare 
the cruel deeds. But when the gods will pity your 
miseries I cannot learn. 

Oed. Hast thou therefore any hope the gods have 
any care of me, and that I shall sometime be freed. 

Ism. I have, by these present oracles. 

Oed. What are they ? What hath been foretold ? 

Ism. That you would one time be desired by these 
men dead and live, for your assistance. 

Oed. What can be expected from such a man 
asl? ^ 

Ism. They say, that in you is all their strength. 

Oed. Now that I am no more, doth my manhood 
most appear ? 

Ism. For now the gods raise you up, before they 
ruined you. 

Oed. It is in vain to raise an old man, who fell 
when young. 

Ism. Know that Creon, on account of these things, 
will come in a little time. 

Oed. To do what, daughter? tell me. 

Ism. That they may place you near the Theban 
land, and possess your body ; but you may not enter 
the borders of the land. 

Oed. What advantage will they get by my lying 
near the gates ? 

Ism. Your tomb will be unfortunate and grievous 
to them, if from home. 

Oed. Without the information of God who can 
find out that ? 

Ism. For this cause they will place thee near the 
country, nor give thee thy own liberty. 

Oed. Will they bury me in Theban dust ? 

Ism. No, father, your kindred's blood which you 
have shed suffers not that.^ 

Oed. And would they not possess my body ? 



242 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

Ism, No ; for that would be unfortunate to the 
Thebans. 

Oed. How can that be ? 

Ism. Because of the wrath of the gods which 
pursues thee when they put thee in thy sepulchre. 

Oed. From whom didst thou hear those words 
which thou speakest ? 

Ism. From those who were present at the Delphic 
altars. 

Oed. And did Phoebus say these things of me? 

Ism. As the ambassadors say who returned from 
thence to Thebes. 

Oed. Which of my children did hear this ? 

Ism. Both together, and know it well. 

Oed. And did the wicked youths, hearing these 
things, out of love to me, resolve to seize the govern- 
ment ? 

Ism. I grieve to hear the news, yet bring it. 

Oed. But may the gods never extinguish this 
their fatal strife, but may the end only be in me of 
the war in which they are now engaged, and raise 
up r^rms : so may he who now possesseth the scep- 
tre and kingdom not continue in his present state, 
nor he who is gone out of the city return again ; who 
did not keep nor defend me their father, so dis-- 
honourably expelled the country ; for, driven fi'om 
my throne, I was sent out by them and declared an 
exile. But you may say that the city freely granted 
that as a gift to gratify my request. By no means, 
for in that day when anger raged, and it was most 
pleasant to me to die, and even to be stoned wdth 
stones, none appeared to favour my request ; but in 
time, when all trouble was^ mitigated, and they 
there saw my mind extravagant in grief had punish- 
ed me more than my former faults deserved, then 
straight the city violently drove me into banishment 
after 1 had been long in it. But they, when they 
could assist their father, would not do it ; but for a 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 243 

small offence, a poor exile from them I wander ; and 
from those who are but virgins, as much as the 
weakness of their sex allows, I am supplied with 
necessaries of life, and am secured from harm in 
whatsoever place I come, and even my honour is by 
their care preserved. They, before their father, 
have chose to gain thrones and sceptres, and govern 
a country : but neither will they ever have me their 
assistant, nor shall they ever enjoy the empire, as I 
perceive by hearing these oracles which Ismene 
brings, and comparing them with the ancient oracles 
which Phcebus once delivered concerning me. Where- 
fore let them send Creon for me, or any other 
powerful citizen ; yet if you, strangers, together with 
these venerable goddesses of your country, will 
assist me, you will purchase by that act a mighty 
^ saviour for this city, but for my enemies troubles. 

Cho. Oedipus is worthy to be pitied, he and his 
daughters ; but since you propose yourself, in your 
discourse, a saviour of this city, I would recommend 
to you what is convenient. 

Oed. Dear strangers, do but receive me now, and 
I will perform all that your will requires. 

Cho. Offer an expiation to the goddesses to whom 
you came, and whose ground you have trod. 

Oed. By what means, strangers, tell me? 

Cho. First taking sacred libations out of the per- 
petual fountain, offer them with pure hands. 

Oed. But when I have taken of that incorrupt 
stream ; what then ? 

Cho. There are cups, the work of an ingenious 
artist, whose heads and * two ears do thou crown. 

' Saviour for this city.'] Either in the Peloponnesian or other 
war, though this was feigned by the poet to flatter his country. 

Scholiast, 

* Two ears do thou.] Gr. "ha.Za.e, a|[A(p»ro/x»?, double mouthed, 
or handled, or rather having heads of animals engraved on 
each side. 

R 2 



244 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

Oed, With green boughs, or threads, or by what 
manner? 

Cho. With the new fleece of a young sheep. 

Oed. Be it so : what is within the cup, how must 
I offer that? 

Cho. Stand, and " pour out Ubations to the sun. 

Oed. Out of those pitchers which you speak of 
shall I pour them ? 

Cho. Water out of the three fountains, and the 
last drop. 

Oed. With what shall I fill this ? Tell me that 
likewise. 

Cho. With honey and water, add no wine. 

Oed. But when the leafed earth hath received 
these things, what then ? 

Cho. "" Add three times nine olive-boughs with 
both your hands, and offer these prayers. 

" Pour out libations to the sun.^ Gr. first morning. These 
libations offered to the sun were mostly honey alone, or honey 
mixed with water ; but it was unlawAd to offer him any wine, as 
appears by the following express prohibition of the Chorus. 

Honey and water, add no wine. 

Cratinus speaks of the crx'i'vQv [jnyoiMy, or mastick-tree, being offered 
to him. 

Go stand before the sun, and take in your hand the great mastick- 
tree. 

^ Add three times nine olive boughs.] Of the several kinds of 
xAa^ot IkIvj^ioi, or (pvTO^altq ixl^^ej, i. e. suppliant boughs, mentioned 
in our notes on Oedipus Tyrannus, Act i. Scene i. Observe 
farther, that the most in use with suppliants were laurel or olive ; 
whence Statins, 



Mite 



nemus circa 



VittatcB laurus, et supplicis arbor olivce. 

About this grove the peaceful olive grows. 
And sprightly laurel, on whose verdant boughs. 

Wreathed garlands hang 

H. H. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 245 

Oed. Supplication being my chief affair those 
would I hear. 

Cho, Since we invoke the Eumenides, do thou 
pray thyself, that with a tender breast they would 
receive their votar}% who brings safety to us, and if 
thou hast any other friend let him assist thee, ^ nor 
let thy voice be heard or thy prayer long; then 
retiu-n and come away : after this with confidence I 
may assist you, if you obey these orders ; othervdse 
I shall fear you, stranger. 

Oed. My children, have you heard those country 
>strangers ? 

Ism. We have heard, and do yovi give your com- 
mands, to do whatsoever their will requires. 

Oed. These things are out of my way, for I am 
deficient in two evils, in that I have not power, nor 
my sight ; one of you come and perform these com- 
mands, for I suppose it sufficient if for many one 
do them in benevolence. With speed something is 
to be done, but leave me not alone, for this my body 
alone cannot creep without a guide. 

Ism. I go therefore to execute these orders ; but 
that place which I must find out, where I may have 
the water, that would I learn. 

Cho. Here, at this wood, O stranger ; but if you 
have need of any thing, there is an inhabitant who 
will inform you. 

Ism. I go therefore to this pious work, ^ 



The laurel was esteemed a sign of victory and triumph, the olive 
of peace and good-will. 

y Nor let thy voice he heard.'] These rites, like the Eleusinia, 
were performed with most profound silence, before which they 
sacrificed a ram to the demi-god Hesuchus, who had a temple at 
Cydon, in Crete, and his priestesses were called Hesuchidse. 
Whence some authors have put silence for religion itself. Hor. 
lib. iii. od. 2. 



Est et Jideli tuta silentio 

Merces. 



246 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

Ant, But thou here guard my father, nor ought 
we to repine at those services we pay to our parents. 



ACT I. SCENE VI. 

Chorus, Oedipus, Antigone. 

Cho. ^ It is a grievous thing to awake an evil that 
lay long asleep, yet I desire to hear 

Oed. What? 

Cho, Of the cause of your sad and miserable 
calamity in which you are fallen. 

Oed. O, by your kind reception do not make me 
repeat the story of my griefs, for I have endured sad 
hardships. 

Cho. That rumour which is much spread, nor as 
yet ceaseth, I desire to hear. 

Oed. Alas, alas ! 

Cho. Be content, I beseech you. 

Oed. Woe is me ! 

Cho. Obey me, and I in my turn will tell as much 
as you. 

Oed. I have suffered evil, * strangers ; I have suf- 
fered, but, God knows, unwillingly, and none of 
them were of my own choice. 

Cho. But how? 

Oed. The city, unknowing, joined me to an in- 
cestuous marriage-bed. 

Cho. Didst thou (as I hear) partake thy mother's 
wretched bed ? 

Oed. Woe is me ! it is death to hear these things, 
but these two are descended from me. 

Cho. How sayest thou ? 

Oed. O children, fruits of my crimes. 

« 

* It is a grievous thing to, Sfc] Tsmene beiiig gone, the 
Chorus desires Oedipus to relate the story of his misfortunes, 
which he is unwilling to do. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 247 

Cho. O Jupiter ! 

Oed, They are bom by one mother's painful 
throes. 

Cho. They are, therefore, your children, and, 
likewise sisters of their father. 

Oed, Alas! 

Cho. Alas, indeed ! 

Oed. Numberless evils. 

Cho. Thou hast suffered. 

Oed. I have suffered sad evils. 

Cho. Thou hast done. 

Oed. I have not done. 

Cho. What, therefore? 

Oed. ^ I received a gift, which, unfortunate 
^\Tetch, I wish I had never received of the city. 

Cho. Thou wretch ! why, therefore, didst thou 
commit that murder ? 

Oed. What is it thou desirest to know ? 

Cho. Of your father. 

Oed. Alas ! thou addest one sorrow to another. 

Cho. Thou art undone. 

Oed, I am undone, but I have 

Cho. What is that?- 

Oed. A just excuse. 

Cho. What excuse ? 

Oed. I will tell thee ; I have slain and destroyed 
others, but by law guiltless, and ignorant I did it. 

Cho. But the king is come here to us, Theseus, 
the son of iEgeus. 



ACT I. SCENE VII. 

Theseus, Oedipus, Antigone. 
Thes. Having heard formerly from many of the 
bloody ruin of your eyes, I know you to be the son 

* I received a gift.'] i,e. His mother in marriage, as a recom- 
pense for solving the Enigma of Sphinx. 



248 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

of Laius ; and now, since I have heard of you in the 
way, I know you better ; for your habit and misera- 
ble body declare who you are. In pity, therefore, 
to your sad state, I would know of you, unhappy 
Oedipus, what dost tliou demand of us or of the 
city ? thyself, or this miserable attendant on thee, 
speak ; for you must urge some prodigious request 
which I will refuse. The dangers which have 
threatened me in foreign lands, as they do every 
stranger, have taught me to abandon none, nor re- 
fuse my aid against his dangers ; for, being a man, 
I am sensible that the events which to-morrow may 
bring to pass, are not more certainly known to me 
than they are to you. 

Oed. O Theseus, thou hast shewn thy noble worth 
in few words, so that 1 need to speak but little, for 
thou hast spoke both who I am, of what father born, 
and from what land I came, so that nothing remains 
to me but to speak what I require, and my discourse 
is done. 

Tkes. Tell me what you require. 

Oed. I come to deliver my miserable body a gift 
to you, not desirable for sight, but the advantage 
from it is greater than its form is beauteous. 

The. What advantage dost thou come to bring ? 

Oed. You may know in time, but not at present. 

The. When will the advantage by you be made 
appear? 

Oed. When I die, and you bury me. 

The. Thou askest the last things of life, middle 
things thou forgetest, or makest light of. 

Oed. There those middle things are likewise given 
me. 

The. A small favour dost thou ask of me. 

Oed. But, observe, here is not a small conflict. 

The. Whether do you speak with respect to your 
own kindred or me ? 

Oed. They will necessitate me to depart hence. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 249 

The. Then, if they will, it is unfit that you con- 
tinue in banishment. 

Oed. When I would have fled they did not per- 
mit me. 

The. Weak man, in adversity anger is not decent. 

Oed. When you shall have learnt all the truth, 
then admonish me ; but, in the mean time, let me 
speak. 

The. Inform me, for I ought not to speak Avithout 
judgment. 

Oed. O Theseus, I have suffered sad evils upon 
evils. 

The. Do you mean the ancient calamities of your 
house ? 

Oed. No ; for that discourse is in the mouth of 
every one in Greece. 

The. What is that you suffer beyond human 
bearing ? 

Oed. Thus it is with me ; I w as driven out of my 
country by my own offspring, nor is it allowed me 
again to return, as being a parricide. 

The. Why, therefore, should they send for you 
to live apart from them ? 

Oed. A divine oracle obliges them. 

The. What misfortunes do they fear from the 
oracle ? 

Oed. That it is their fate to be overcome in this 
land. 

The. How can these grievous quarrels happen 
between them and me ? 

Oed. The gods alone are free from the decays of 
age and death, all other things powerful time con- 
founds; the vigour of the earth fades, of bodies 
likewise fades ; faith dies, unfaithfulness revives, 
and the same spirit of unity is not lasting among 
friends, nor with one city towards another ; those 
things which once were pleasant become bitter, and 
the same things again pleasant. So, likewise, now, 



250 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

if a settled tranquillity seems to reign between the 
Thebans and you, a long succession of many suc- 
ceeding nights and days will at last disclose that 
fatal period, wherein they will dissolve this mutual 
harmony in war, for a small fault, when my sleep- 
ing buried carcass, though long cold, shall occasion 
the spilling of their warm blood, if Jove be still 
Jove, and Apollo be true. But it is not agreeable 
to speak unalterable oracles ; indulge me in those 
favours which I first did ask, keeping only your 
faith, and you shall never say you received Oedipus 
an useless inhabitant of those places, if the gods do 
not deceive me. 

Cho, Before, O king, these and such like speeches 
this man spok^ relating to this land. 

The. Who, therefore, should reject the benevo-. 
lence of such a man ? Should I, whose palace be- 
fore was always a common refuge, even for captive 
foes ? But this man comes a suppliant of the god- 
desses, and pays not to me and this land a small 
tribute. For all these reasons, I respect him, and 
I will never reject his kindness, but wdli grant him 
a seat in this land. If it be pleasing to thee, stran- 
ger, to remain here, I order you to take care of him ; 
but, if it please him, he may go with me. I allow 
tbee, Oedipus, to judge and choose which thou vrilt, 
and I shall agree with you. 

OecL O Jove ! may all happiness attend such good 
men. 

The. What wouldest thou, therefore, go into my 
palace ? 

Oed. If I may have liberty, there is a place 
here. 

The. Wherein, what wilt thou do ? for I will not 
resist you. 

Oed. Wherein I shall overcome those who banish- 
ed me. 

The. Great then is the benefit of your residing here. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 251 

Oed. Aye, if you make good to me the promise 
of your assistance. 

The. Trust that to me, I will not betray you. 

Oed. I will not bind you by oath, as a wicked 
man. 

The. You should gain no more by that than by 
my word. 

Oed. How, therefore, will you do ? 

The. What dost thou chiefly fear ? 

Oed. There will come men. 

The. Then these will take care. 

Oed. Beware of the consequence if you leave me. 

The. Teach me not what I must do. 

Oed. There is an absolute necessity to fear. 

The. My heart fears not. 

Oed. Thou knowest not their threats. 

The. I know that no man shall lead thee away 
home by force from me ; many threats ancj many 
vain w^ords in rage they may breathe, but, when the 
mind is firm w^ith its own strength, threats are no 
more; but, though they be able to speak terrible 
things to these of leading you away, I know ^ the dan- 
ger of taking you away by force will affright them 
from the attempt. Therefore, you may be of cou- 
rage without my counsel, if Apollo sent you hither ; 
likewise, though I be not present, I know that m j 
name will secure you, that you will not suffer ill. 



ACT I. SCENE VIII. 

Chorus. 

Strophe I. 
Cho, Thou art come, stranger, unto these fertile 

^ The danger of taking you away hy force will affright them 
from the attempt.^ Oav^crErai (jluk^qv to ^iv^o "TreXayo?, a^e -KXa^ifjiov. 

There will appear a long sea, and unnavigable. For, as danger* 
of the seas affright men from sailing, so hazardous enterprizes 
affright men from undertaking them. 



252 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

regions, the best pastures of all the earth, a fruitful 
hill, where the sweet nightingale, chiefly frequenting, 
sings with quivering voice in green valleys, sitting 
under shady tufts of ivy, and fruitful leaves of the 
god Bacchus, unpierced by the sun, nor shattered 
by any storms of winds, where raging Bacchus al- 
ways walks, conversant among his divine Nourses. 

Antistrophe I. 

*" Narcissus, bearing beautiful leaves, flourishes 
daily by celestial dew, with which a crown, accord- 
ing to the ancient custom, is knit in honour to the 
great goddesses ; and here the fields are gilt with 
gilden saffron ; nor do the never-sleeping fountains 
which nourish the streams of Cephissus fail, but, 
daily fruitful to the fields, with a perpetual stream, 
he glides ; nor do the choirs of Muses abhor these 
places, ,nor golden Venus. 

Strophe II. 

There is here such a thing as I never heard of in 
the land of Asia, nor in Dorica, the great island of 
Pelops, a plant which grows of itself. A terror to 

^ Narcissus, bearing beautiful leaves, Sfc] Commentators 
differ upon this passage ; some say, that, by the great goddesses are 
meant Ceres and Proserpine ; others say the Furies. They who 
contend for the former opinion say, a f^ovov ^a^xvaiv uvlci<; r£(poivHa-i. 
But the other opinion seems to be the truest, for this place was 
sacred to the Furies. Secondly, Euphorion saith, 'EvfAsAhq u^y^ret; 
^vytxl^i^ai (pQ^y.vvo(;, Na^>ti(70-o»o iTrjre^"? w^ojta/Ar^E?. Eumenides, the 
beautiful daughters of Phorcun, crowned wilfli Narcissus. It is 
ascribed to them either because it grows near tombs, or from its 
name, which alludes to the word vcc^Koiv, to affright, which is the 
business of those goddesses. Again, if it be the ancient crown 
of Proserpine, or the flower which she was gathering to make a 
crown when she was borne away by Pluto, Sophocles would not 
have used the plural number to comprehend Ceres likewise. — 
Lastly, in the Thesmophoria there were no such crowns used, but 
the high -priest, the priestesses, and torch-bearer, wore crowns of 
myrtle and yew. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 253 

the destroying sword, which chiefly flourishes in 
this region, '^ the leaf of the brown fruitful olive 
tree. Neither young man nor one in old age who 
commands durst destroy it, but the eye of ^ Jupiter 
Morios is always watchful to guard it and brown- 
eyed Minerva. 

Antistrophe II. 

I have another commendation for this metropolis 
to mention, which is indeed its greatest glory, a gift 
bestowed upon her by the great deity, and that is, 
that it is excellent for breeding horses of most 
generous kind, and the practice of the naval art. 
O son of Saturn, king Neptune, thou hast raised 
it to all this glory. Thou first didst make the rein a 
restraint to the horse for these cities, and the ship, 
well stored with oars, grasped by the rowers hands, 

^ The leaf of the brown olive tree.] The Scholiast, on this 
passage, cites the words of Ister, saying, that there was in the 
academy a branch of that olive-tree which grew in the Acropolis, 
and they decreed that whoever cut it down should be deemed ac- 
cursed, whether friend or enemy ; whereupon, when Archidamus, 
son of Zeuxidamus, king of the Lacedaemonians, invaded Attica, 
with ten thousand Peloponnesians and Boeotians, they ravaged all 
the country, yet would not hurt those olives which grew in the 
Academy, for fear of the curse ; yet Aristotle informs us that the 
conqueror in any of the games which were exercised at the cele- 
bration of the Panathenaea, a festival in honour of Minerva, 
received a crown of them. These olives were called (xo^icci, and 
the tree was produced by Minerva in a contention with Neptune, 
which should give name to Athens, and, therefore, they were 
sacred to her. Some derive the name from the word fJt,o^oq, death, 
in remembrance of the misfortune of Halirrhothius, the son of 
Neptune, who, in a rage at his father's defeat, offering to cut 
down the olive-tree, missed his aim, and gave himself a fatal 
blow. Others derive the name from /xe^o?, i. e. part; because, ac- 
cording to some, the olives of which the victor's crown consisted, 
were given by contribution, every one being obliged to contribute 
his part towards the solemnization of this festival. 

* Jupiter Morios,] The Scholiast calls him Zey^ tteo* 'Ajta^»7fA»av, 
Jupiter near the Academy ; for there the tree grew, and Jupiter 
had a temple near it. 



254 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

as swiftly rides upon the yielding waves as the 
^ Nereides who have a hundred feet. 



ACT II. SCENE I. 

Antigone, Oedipus, Chorus. 

Ant. O land, commended with much praise, now 
is it convenient for you to shew your merit of that 
noble praise? 

Oed, What sudden accident hath caused thy 
transport, child? 

Ant. Creon approaches to us not without guards. 

Oed. Dear strangers, loved old men to me, now 
the time of safety approaches. 

Cho. Be of good courage, it will come ; though 
1 am an old man, yet the strength of this land is 
not old. 



ACT II. SCENE 11. 

Creon and Followers, Oedipus, Antigone, Cti^rus. 

Cre. Ye noble inhabitants of this land, I see in 
your eyes that you are struck with sudden fear at 
my coming. You need not fear me, or speak an ill- 
boding word ; I come not as though willing tojdo' 
any violent act, since I am an old man, and know 
that I am come to the most powerful city of Greece. 
I was sent to persuade this man to follow me to the 
Theban land ; and not by one, but I was commanded 
by all the Thebans to undertake the task ; for my 
affinity to him obhges me more than any other to la- 

^ Nereides who have a hundred feet. ^ They are the daughters 
of Nereus, son of Oceanus and Tethys, and are said to be fifty 
in number. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 255 

ment his misfortunes. But, O miserable Oedipus, 
hear me and come home, for the whole people of 
Thebes call thee as they justly ought, and 1 so much 
the more justly than all the rest, as I grieve the 
more for your present evils, otherwise I were the 
worst of men ; for I see thee, a miserable stranger, 
a continual wanderer, wanting all support but such 
as a wretched maiden can give. Alas, poor princess I 
I never thought she should fall into such an abyss 
of misery, into which the unhappy maid is fallen, 
whose lot is always to provide the sustenance of life 
for you with poor diet ; so big and yet unmarried, 
and is exposed to the injuries of every stranger. 
Sad, indeed, is that reproach ! O, wretched, I have 
reproached thee myself, and all our race, but it is 
impossible to conceal things that are so plain. Now 
thou, by our father's gods, obey me, Oedipus, sub- 
mit to me and willingly return to your city, the 
palace of your ancestors, bidding farewell to this 
city ; for it is fit your father's house have most 
of your esteem, to which you owe your education. 

Oed. O thou who durst do all things, and who 
concealest in every fan* word some subtle contri- 
vance, why dost thou attempt those things, and 
wouldest a second time plunge me into my former 
miseries, that I might again renew my grief? Be- 
fore, when I laboured with so many domestic evils, 
when it would have even been a pleasure to me to 
depart the land, you would not grant me that favour, 
though I desired ; but, when oppressed with sorrow, 
I panted for ease, and would lay down the weight, 
and lead my life at home, understanding my rage 
proceeded too far ; then you expelled me and drove 
me into exile. Where was then this boasted esteem 
for your relation ? But now again when you see 
this city and the people my friends, you strive to 
draw me hence, and mildly speak the harshest 
things : and thus, in making offers of your love to 



256 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

those who slight it, you resemble him who will give 
nothing nor assist thee at thy urgent suit, but when 
yoLir mind is satisfied with those things which you 
before desired, then should make offers of his gifts, 
when they can merit no thanks ; would you not call 
that a needless favour ? And such gifts thou otferest 
me, in bare pretences good, but bad in fact. I 
shall lay before these the proofs of thy baseness. 
Thou comest to lead me away, not to my own 
palace, but to place me near the borders of the city, 
that it might be free from harms from this land, but 
you will never be so fortunate : but, on the contrary, 
my evil genius will always infest your country, and 
my sons will only have so much of my land as will 
serve them to die in. Do I not better understand 
the fate of the Thebans than you ? Very much ; by 
so much as those are wiser of whom I am informed, 
^ Apollo, and Jove, who is his sire. Thou comest 
hither prepared with a lying tongue, and much vio- 
lence of speech, but thou shalt gain more harm than 
safety by thy talk. Begone, for in those enterprizes 
thou wilt not prevail, and suffer me to live here, for 
we do not live unhappy if we are content. 



s ApollOy and Jovcy who is his sire.] The ancients thoughl 
that Apollo only delivered those oracles to men which he received 
from his father Jove, as jEschylus saith in his Suppliants. 

Zevq lyKOcBsT Ao|ia. 

Send quickly, send, for so my Jove, inspired, 

Phoebus commands. H, H. 

On the same account in the Eumenides, when he brings in Apollo 
commanding men to reverence his own oracles, he adds, they must 
also pay due respect to those of Jupiter, without mentioning any 
of the other prophetic deities ; his words are these : — 

Kayo; T£ ^^nor^ht; ra? Ijtxac ts kou Aio? 
Ta-^Qiiv y.z>,tvu. 

To mine and Jove's most sacred oracles 
■ . Pay due obeisance H. H. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 257 

Cre. Dost thou think that thy afflictions fall more 
heavy on me than on thyself, that thus thou talkest? 

Oecl. It would be my great comfort if thou wert 
neither able to persuade me, nor these my friends. 

Ore. O unhappy wretch, although advanced in 
age thou shewest no proofs of thy understanding, 
but even in old age maintainest thy folly. 

Oed. Thou art bitter in speech, but I know^ no 
just man that always speaks well. 

Cre. These things differ, to speak much and speak 
seasonably. 

Oed. How short but seasonable thou speakest this ? 

Cre. Not for them who are of your mind. 

Oed. Begone, for I wdll speak for these ; neither 
regard me, nor stay any longer where I should 
dwell. 

Ore. I call these to witness, and not you, what 
w^ords thou shalt answer for to your friends, if I 
take thee. 

Oed. Who should take me by force from these my 
companions ? 

Cre. But when absent from them, then thou shalt 
suffer. 

Oed. How dost thou think to execute what thou 
hast threatened ? 

Cre. Of your two daughters I have just now 
taken one, and sent her away ; and this, likewise, 
I will speedily take. 

Oed. Woe is me ! 

Cre. Thou soon shalt have a greater cause to la- 
ment. [Tahes hold of Antigone, 

Oed. Hast thou my child ? 

Cre. Aye, but I will not have her long. 

Oed. O strangers, what will you do? Will you 
betray me ? Will you not drive this impious wretch 
out of the land ? 

Cho, Hence, begone quickly, stranger ; thou dost 
not justly these things, nor what thou didst before. 



258 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

Cre. Let it be your business to take her away, 
though against her will, if she will not go freely, 

[To his guards. 

Ant. Woe is me, a wretch ! whither shall I flee ? 
What help shall I find from God or man? 

[They take her. 

Cho. What dost thou, stranger ? 

Cre. I will not touch this man, but my own niece. 
, Oed. O governors of the land. 

Cho. O, stranger, thou dost not justly. 

Cre. Aye, justly. 

Cho. How justly? 

Cre. I lead my own away. 

Antistrophica Strophe. 

Ant. O city. 

Cho. What dost thou, stranger ? If thou wilt not 
let her go, thou shalt prove the strength of my hands. 

Cre. Keep me off. 

Cho. I will, so that thou shalt not discommend me. 

Oed. Thou resistest the city, if thou injurest me. 

Cho. Did I not foretel the consequence? 

Cre. Let the maid go quickly from your hands. 
[The Chorus take Antigone from Creon and his 
followers. 

Cho. Command not where thou dost not rule. 

Cre. I tell thee let her go. 

Cho. But I bid thee begone. Come forth, come 
inhabitants ; the city is destroyed, my city by force ; 
come hither to my help. 

Ant. I am dragged away, a wretch, O strangers, 
strangers. 

[Creon s followers seize Antigone again. 

Oed. Where art thou, my daughter ? 

Ant. Taken away by force. 

Oed. O daughter, stretch out thy hands. 

Ant. But I cannot. 

Cre. Will you not lead her hence ? 



OEDIPUS COLONEDS. 259 

Oed, O me, unhappy wretch ! 

Ore. No longer shall you walk by these sup- 
porters. [Antigone carried off^^ But since you will 
prevail against your country and friends, of whom 
commanded I do this, and being likewise a king, do 
prevail ; but, in time, thou shalt know that neither 
thou dost now do well for thyself, nor what you did 
before against the will of your friends, gratifying 
thy anger which is always hurtful to thee. 

Cho. Stay here, stranger. 

Cre. I charge you touch me not. 

Cho, I will not let you go, since you have de- 
prived me of them. 

Cre. You shall soon lay down a greater ransom 
for the whole city, for I will not only take these. 

Cho. What wilt thou enterprize ? 

Cre. I will take him and lead him aw^ay. 

Cho. It is dreadful what thou sayest. 

Cre. And that shall be now done, unless the king 
of the country hinder me. 

Oed. Base slave, wilt thou touch me ? 

Cre. I command thee to hold thy peace. 

Oed. Let not the goddesses of our land restrain 
my tongue from cursing thee, who hast taken away 
my child, the only eye I have, by force ; that that 
Joss might be further added to my before lost eyes. 
But may the sun, the god who sees all things, grant 
that thou and thy kindred may lead such a life in 
old age as I do. 

Cre. Behold this, inhabitants of this land^ 

Oed. They see both me and thee, and understand, 
that indeed injured, I defend myself by words. 

Cre. I will not restrain my anger, but 1 will lead 
thee away by force, though alone, and oppressed 
with age. 

Antistrophe. 

Oed. Woe is me, a wretch ! 

s 2 



260 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

Cho, What confidence hadst thou to come hither? 
Thinkest thou to effect thy cursed designs ? 

Cre. I think so. 

Cho, If thou dost, I count this no more a city. 

Cre. In a just cause the small overcome the great. 

Oed. Do you hear what he saith? 

Cho. But he shall not do so. 

Cre. Jove may know that, not thou. 

Cho. Is not this a reproach ? 

Cre. A reproach, indeed, yet must be borne. 

Cho. Hoa ! all the city, all the leaders ; leaders, 
come with speed, since they proceed too far. 



ACT II. SCENE III. 

Theseus, Oedipus, Chorus, Creon. 

Thes. What noise is this? What is the matter? 
Out of what fear didst thou call me ^from sacrificing 
oxen at the altar to the marine god, the guardian of 
this hill? speak, that I may know all on account 
whereof I came hither, with quicker steps than easy 
to my feet. 

Oed. O most beloved friend, I know your voice ; 
I have suffered dreadful things just now from this 
man. 

Thes. What are they who hath injured thee? 
vSpeak. 

Oed. This Creon, whom thou seest, comes, and 
hath taken away of my children the sole comfort of 
my age. 

Thes. What sayest thou? 

^ From sacrificing oxen^ The contrivance of the poet is here 
admirable, in supposing Theseus, at the time of this dispute, to 
have been at Neptune's altar offering sacrifices, and to have heard 
the clamour; and this saves the trouble of repeating to him the 
whole matter. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 261 

Oed. Thou hast heard what I have suffered. 

Thes. Therefore let some of the servants with all 
speed go to the altars, and assemble all the people, 
both horse and foot, from the sacrifices, that quitting 
all affairs, they may hasten to the place where two 
roads meet, lest the girls pass by; for I were a 
laughing-stock to this stranger should I be subdued 
by violence. Go with speed as I have commanded 
you ; but this man, since I came in anger, of w hich 
he is worthy, I will not suffer to escape my hands 
without a wound. And now by the same law by 
which he came hither, shall he be treated ; thou shalt 
not go out of this land before thou bringest them, 
and setest them before me. Since thou hast both 
dishonoured me, the memory of thy parents, and 
thy own countiy : who coming into a city which ex- 
erciseth justice, and doth nothing contrary to law ; 
afterwards, despising the laws of the country, in- 
truding into it by force, didst take aw ay what thou 
would st, didst use open force, and suppose that 
my city was destitute of subjects, or enslaved; and 
even myself am nothing in thy eyes. Thebes did 
not instruct thee in these principles, for it is not used 
to bring up unjust men, nor would it commend you, 
if it understood you ravished what belongs to me 
and the gods by force, bringing aw ay miserable sup- 
plicants. If I were to go into your country, though 
1 had the most just of reasons, without the king of 
the country's leave, whosoever he is, I would not 
draw^ away by force nor take ought, but should 
know how a stranger ouglit to behave himself among 
the citizens. But thou shamest unworthily this city, 
and a multitude of years both makes you an old 
man, and void of understanding. Therefore I com- 
manded before, and now I command, that somebo- 
dy with the greatest speed bring back the maidens, 
imless by constraint and unwillingly thou wilt be 



262 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

' an inhabitant of this land : and this I say to thee, my 
mind agreeing with my words. 

Clio. Thou seest, stranger, in what case thou art ; 
as to thy ancestors thou appearest just, but by ill 
deeds provest thyself base. 

Cre. I, neither thinking this city without men, O 
son of JEgeus, or without counsel (as thou sayest) 
have done this deed. But knowing this, that no 
love for my kindred should possess you, so as to 
maintain them by force against my will; and I 
knew that you would not receive a parricide and 
polluted person, who in an incestuous marriage begot 
an offspring. And I knew likewise that there was 
such an ^ Areopagus, so well affected to the citizens 
of this land, as would not suffer such a wanderer 
to live with them in the city. In confidence of these 
things I seized this prey. And I had not done it, 
had he not cursed me and my race with bitter im- 
precations : wherefore I, suffering, thought fit to act 
thus in return ; for anger is a passion which death 
alone can extirpate, since no grief disturbs the dead. 
Wherefore do thou what thou wilt ; since solitude, 
while I say what is just, makes me little; though of 
this age I will endeavour to resist these practices. 

Oed. O shameless confidence! whom dost thou 
think thou reproachest ? Me, who am an old man, 

* An inhabitant of this land.] Gr. /*£Totxo?. Upon which the 
Scholiast says, /^£?otx»ij xa^acrt ra? a-rzro Iri^xq xu^xq /lAela/SatvovIa?, xat 
Kctloiyi^vloK; h It£^«k, i.e. they are called i^iraiitot, Metoicoi; who 
come from one country to inhabit in another. Yet they were 
more properly called fjuhomai, who came from other countries and 
jfixed at Athens. And Theseus instituted a sacrifice for their 
sake, called [xiroiKitx, which was celebrated on the 16th day of 
Hecatorabaeon. 

^ Areopagus.] Gr."A^£ioq Troiyoq, or d^noTrdyoq, literally, a hill 
of Mars. It was a council at Athens, which consisted of judges 
who determined capital matters, and near it was a temple of 
Mars. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 263 

or yourself, who hast with much freedom of speech 
ran over murders, marriages, and calamities, which 
I unfortunate unwiUingly endured ? for so it pleased 
the gods I should, being angry on some account 
with our former race. But in myself thou canst not 
find out any offence, worthy reproach, by which I 
have offended against myself or my kindred. For 
if any oracle was delivered to my father that he 
should die by his children, how can you justly re- 
proach me with that, who was not as yet sprung 
from the seed of my father and mother, but was 
then unborn? But if 1 was born miserable, as I was, 
(for I fell into the hands of my father and killed him, 
not knowing what I did, or against whom,) how 
canst thou justly blame an involuntary crime ? But 
art thou not ashamed to force me to mention my 
marriage with my mother, she being thy sister? 
Which I shall soon speak of, nor will I now be 
silent, since thou hast given a lopse to thy licentious 
tongue : she bore me, O miseries ! being ignorant ; 
yet she bore me, and bore to me an offspring a re- 
proach to herself. But one thing therefore I know, 
that thou willingly reproachest her and me with these 
things, though unwillingly I married her, with grief 
I mention it ; but neither for this marriage can I be 
justly reproached, nor for my father s murder, which 
you always object against me with opprobrious lan- 
guage. Only answer me one thing which I inquire ; 
imagine one should stand ready prepared to kill 
you, being a just man, wouldst thou inquire if he 
was thy father who was about to kill thee, or 
wouldst thou immediately punish him? I think if 
thou lovedst thy life, thou wouldst punish the author 
of thy danger, nor consider whether it is just or not. 
These evils I myself ran into, the gods driving me 
on; for which I believe my father, were he alive, 
would not condemn me. But although thou art un- 
just, thou thinkest thou speakest every word right, 



264 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

whether it be fit to be mentioned or not : thou re- 
proachest me before these, and art pleased to flatter 
the name of Theseus and Athens thus, that it is well 
inhabited ; but while thus thou praisest it, many 
things thou forgetest, that this is the most religious 
of all the cities wheresoever the gods are worship- 
ped, from whence thou stealest me a suppliant old 
man, and makest a captive of me, and goest away, 
taking my daughters. Wherefore I come calling 
upon our goddesses, and beseech them with suppli- 
cations, that they would come assistants to me, and 
make you know by what men this city is guarded. 

Cho. This stranger seems a good man, O king! 
but his calamities are miserable, and worthy to be 
pitied. 

Thes. Enough of words ; those that went hence 
make haste away, and do we stand still who have 
thus suffered? 

Ore. What, therefore, dost thou command a weak 
old man to do? 

Tlies. To lead the way, and I will go thy compa- 
nion, that if in these places thou hast our maids, 
thyself mayest shew me where they are ; but if your 
companions seized of them, escape, nothing can I 
do ; for others shall hasten and apprehend thy com- 
panions, who shall not be able to escape out of this 
land, that they may pray to your gods. But go be- 
fore and know what state thou art in, and how for- 
tune hath caught thee in those snares which thou 
didst lay for others. Possessions are not to be kept 
by unjust frauds, nor shall you tind me otherwise 
as to this affair, since I have found thee neither 
come naked nor unprepared for so great an affront, 
with all this boldness. But there is something in 
which confiding thou hast offered this violence, 
which I must find out, and not suffer the city to be 
overcome by one man. Knowest thou ought of 
these things ? or do they seem to thee now spoke in 



OEDIPUS COLONELS. 265 

vain, as when thou first didst conceive this fraud 
they would have seemed. 

Ore. Thou hast spoken nothing to me worthy of 
hlame. But at home we shall know what is fit to 
be done. 

Thes. Now go away and threaten, but thou 
Oedipus remain here quiet, being confident that un- 
less 1 die, I will not cease before I make thee master 
of thy children. 

Oed. May the gods prosper thee for this noble 
act, and for your just care for me. 



ACT II. SCENE IV. 

Chorus, Strophe. 

Cho, ^ I wish I were where crowds of enemies do 
mix together in loud-roaring battle, or ^ at the 
Pythian, or the " bright shores, where the venerable 
priestesses look after the sacrifices of Ceres for men, 
and whose tongue the golden ° key of the Eumol- 

^ I wish I were whei^e crowds.] The Chorus, supposing Creon 
to come with a power, in order to force away Oedipus, and that 
Theseus would defend him, concluded there would of necessity 
be a battle between them, therefore wishes he might be a specta- 
tor of it. 

°* At the Pythian.'] i.e. At the altar of Pythian Apollo, in 
Marathon, which was about ten miles from Athens, famous for 
Theseus's victory over the Marathonian bull. 

" Bright shores.] Shining from the light of the torches and 
mystic fire, made use of in the rites of Ceres, in Eleusina. 

° Key of the Eumolpian priests.] Because those mysteries are 
not to be revealed, the tongue is, as it were, locked with keys. 
They were sacred to Ceres and her daughter Proserpine. Some 
think they were instituted by Ceres herself; others are of opinion 
that the first Eumolpus introduced them, but Acesodorus assures 
us it was a fifth from him ; for he writes that Eleusis was first in- 
habited by natives, then by Thracians, who came in with Eumol- 
pus to assist him in the wars against Erechtheus, where he begat 
Ceryx ; and he begat Eumolpus the second, he Antiphemus, he 



266 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

pian priests closeth up, where I suppose warlike 
Theseus and the two unmarried sisters will join 
in battle with a loud clamour in these countries. 

Antistrophe I. 

Will they approach at the ^ western side of the 
rock of Niphas, in the verdant pastures of Oeta ? 
They shall neither escape with horses nor swift 
chariots, but shall be taken : for terrible is the 
violence of our inhabitants, terrible the vigour of 
the Athenians ; every rein displays its lustre ; all 
hasten to ascend the horses, well adorned with 
various trappings, who honour Minerva, the rider, 
and Neptune, the beloved son of Rhea. 

Strophe II. 

Do they .now act, or delay ? How doth my mind 
presage that Creon will quickly deliver the maid 
who suffered sad affliction for her kindred ? Jupiter 
performs something every day. I am a prophet of 
fortunate wars. O that I were a nimble dove, that, 
with a speedy flight, I might ascend the clouds of 
the sky, to see what my mind presages concerning 
this battle. 

Antistrophe II. 

O Jupiter, governor of all the gods ! who behold- 
est all things ! grant the rulers of this land, with a 
victorious power, to overcome this troop, which is 

Musaeus, the Poet, and he Eumolpus the third, who instituted 
the mysteries of Ceres and Proserpine, and the order of priests 
called Eumolpidae. The same author says they were observed 
every year. 

P Western side of the rock of JSJiphas.] He means here Mount 
JEgaleos, it being the utmost western boundary of this people, 
dividing them from the Messenians. He sums up the places where 
it is most probable the fight should be between Creon and The- 
seus, at the rock of Niphas, called the smooth rock, or the hill 
of ^galeos. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 267 

an easy prey. Thee, venerable maid, Pallas Mi- 
nerva, and Apollo, the hunter, I invoke, and his 
sister Diana, the pursuer of spotted nimble deers, I 
beseech you to come with your divine assistance 
both to this country and the citizens. 



. ACT III. SCENE I. 

Chorus, Oedipus, 

Clio. O, wandering' stranger, you will not say to 
me, who see what I foretel, that I am a false pro- 
phet, for I see the maids now approaching ne?ir 
again. 

Oed. Where, where, what sayest thou ? 



ACT III. SCENE II. 

Antigone, Ismene, Theseus, Oedipus, Chorus, 

Ant. O father, father, which of the gods granted 
you to see the best of men who sent vis hither to 
you? 

Oed. O daughter, are you here ? 

Ant. The hands of Theseus, and the dear com- 
panions of his arms, preserved us. 

Oed. Come to your father, child, and support 
this body which had given up all hope. 

Ajit. You ask what you may obtain ; this favour 
suits with our desire, 

Oed. Where, therefore, where are you ? 

Ant. We both approach together. 

Oed. Most beloved! 

Ant. Everything suits with our father's desire. 

Oed. O supporters of your father ! 

Ant. But unhappy supporters of an unhapp) 
father. 



268 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

Oed. I have now recovered my dear children, nor 
should I be most unhappy thougti I died, w^hile you 
are near me. Support, my child, my right side, 
keep by your father, ease me who was before a for- 
saken and miserable wanderer, and tell me all that 
was done, as short as may be, for a short discourse 
suits best your age. 

Ant. This is he who preserved us ; it is fit to hear 
him, father, and so will my business be short. 

Oed. O Theseus, wonder not what pleases me, 
for my children coming imhoped for, I prolong my 
speech. I know that this satisfaction could not 
proceed to me from any other besides you, for thou 
hast preserved her, and no other; and may the. 
gods grant all the good I wish you and this land, 
since, by experience, I am taught to prove, that 
piety with you alone, of all men, dwells ; and 
equity and truth, knowing this, therefore, with 
these words I testify, that what I possess I possess 
by you and no other. Stretch forth to me, my lord, 
thy right hand, that I may touch and kiss thee, if 
it be just. But, what do I say ? why should I, 
being a miserable man, desire to touch a man in 
whom there is no spot of guilt ? I will not let you 
go ; for it is fit those only of all men who are ex- 
perienced in ills should grieve for others. But thou, 
from henceforth, partake my joy ; and, hereafter, 
let me feel the same good effects of your protection 
as to this day I have. 

The. I wonder not why thou hast enlarged thy 
discourse, delighted with thy children, nor that be- 
fore me thou hast received the tale from them which 
I had to tell. We conceive no grief from thence, 
for we do not strive that our lives should be famous 
more by words than deeds, and of this my deeds 
have given good proof, for we have been false 
to none of those promises which we have sworn to 
execute, but come bringing them safe and pure from 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 269 

all things which were threatened. How that con- 
test was ended why should I boast, which you may 
know yourself from these ? But revolve upon the 
words which just now were told me, as I came 
hither, which, though they seem but trifling, yet 
deserve your wonder, for men ought to neglect 
nothing that is to be done. 

Oed, What is it ? tell me, who know nought of 
those things you inquire of 

The. They say, some man, no countryman of 
yours, but a relation, sits at the altar of Neptune, 
where I was sacrificing before I came hither. 

Oed. Who is he ? What doth he desire by sitting 
down there ? 

The. I know but one thing, as they tell me, he 
desireth some short discourse with you, in no proud 
manner. 

Oed. What is it ? for his sitting at the altar is not 
on a small account. 

The. They tell you he comes to discourse with 
you, and desires the liberty to retire safely the same 
way again. 

Oed. Who should it be who sits at this altar? 

The. Think if you have any relation among the 
Argives who should desire to obtain that request of 
you. 

Oed. Most loved of men, stay where you are. 
^ The. What has happened to you ? 

Oed. Ask not. 

The. Tell me what is the matter. 

Oed. I know, having heard of these, who he is 
that stands there. 

The. Who is he ? Him whom I have repri- 
manded } 

Oed. My hated son, O king, whose discourse I 
could the worst of all men's bear to hear. 

The. How ; can you not hear and not act against 



270 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

your inclinations ? How can it be troublesome to 
you only to hear ? 

Oed. That voice comes as the most detested to 
his father's ears. Put me not to the necessity of 
submitting to your demand. 

The. But, if this suppliant's habit enforces it, 
consider if reverence to the gods is not to be ob- 
served. 

Aiit. Father, yield to me, though I am young I 
will advise ; suffer Theseus to gratify his mind and 
the God as he desires, and submit that my brother 
should come ; be of courage, he will not force you 
from your opinion, though he should speak to you 
some unbecoming speeches. What injury is it to 
hear words ? For the most excellent contrivances 
are first framed in the mind, then thoughts instruct 
the tongue to utter them by words. Thou didst 
beget him, so that it is not justice for you to repay 
ill to him, although his deeds to you were most im- 
pious and vile. But admit him, for others have had 
bad children, and anger as fierce hath raged in 
other breasts, yet, moved by the intreaties of their 
friends they have been quite overcome. But thou, 
regard not thy father and mother's injuries, for 
which you have suffered, if you pass them by, yet 
I am sure you will discern how destructive is the 
event of vile anger, for you have a sad evidence of 
this, too plain to be disputed, that you are deprived 
of your eyes. But, comply with us, for those who 
make but just demands should not be forced earnest- 
ly to intreat, nor should yourself be well treated, 
and not know how to repay the kindness. 

Oed. My child, your speeches overcome me by 
an uneasy pleasure, but let it be as it pleaseth thee ; 
only, stranger, if he comes hither, let none over- 
come me. 

The. It is enough I hear you speak once, I will, 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 27| 

not boast, but know you will be safe if the gods 
preserve me. 

Epodica Strophe. 

Cho, Whosoever desires more than a moderate 
share of Hfe, he, in my judgment, but indulgeth his 
folly, since a long series of succeeding days doth 
only serve to multiply misfortunes. It is not possi- 
ble for him to see delight who grasps at more than 
is convenient ; whose desire is not perfectly accom- 
plished before death comes ; when unmarried des- 
tiny uncelebrated in choirs, and final death appears. 

Antistrophe. 

Not to be bom at all overcomes all arguments 
for life ; but since he is born to return thither whence 
he came as soon as possible, merits the second 
praise. For when we are arrived at youthful years, 
attended with vain desires, who can escape many 
sorrows ? Who is not immersed in troubles, murders, 
seditions, strifes, quarrels, and envies? Then de- 
tested, final, infirm, morose, and unfriendly old 
age oppresseth us, that we are plunged in number- 
less evils. 

Epode. 

Wherein I unhappy man am not alone tormented ; 
for, as the northern shore on every side is battered 
by the winter waves, so terrible and tempestuous 
storms of fate and perpetual evils always torment 
Oedipus, some from the rising of the sun, some 
from the setting, others from the '^dark Riphaean 
mountains. 

^ Dark Riphcean mountains.] They are called dark, because 
they lie westward where the day closeth and niejht comes hi. 



272 QEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

ACT IV. SCENE I. 
Antigone, Oedipus. 

Ant. And now this stranger comes alone to U8. 
and from his eyes dischargeth floods of tears. 

Oed. Who is he? 

Ant. Polynices is here hard by, according as my 
;mind presaged. 



ACT IV. SCENE II. 

Polynices, Antigone, Oedipus, Chorus. 

Pol ^ Woe is me! what shall I do? Whether, O 
children, shall I first mom-n my o\pi evils, or my 
father's, of which my eyes are witnesses, whom on 
a strange land I have found with you here exposed, 
with such a habit in which a filthiness appears that 
testifies thy wretched state ? But on thy yet more 
wretched head deprived of eyes, thy hair is exposed 
to the injuries of wind and sun ; and, as it seems, 
the food which he eats is like the habit which he 
wears. This I a miserable wretch too lately learn- 
ed, and declare, that though the worst of men, I 
came out of care for your preservation, lest you 
should see your evils still increasing. But reverence 
stands at the throne of Jove in all deeds which are 
done there, and before thee, father, should it stand 
Hkewise ; for there are remedies for offences, but no 
defence. Why art thou silent? Speak something, 
father, turn not away from me. Will you not an- 
swer me any thing? But, in contempt, send me 

' Woe is me! what shall I do?] Observe the cunning of Poly- 
nices, who dolh not begin with a request, but to get favour of bis 
father seems first to pity his miseries. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 273 

away without speaking, nor speak why you are 
angry ? O children of this man, but my sisters, try 
but to move my father's morose and inaffable aspect, 
lest answering never a word he sends me away dis- 
honoured, and a suppliant of Neptune. 

Ant. But speak thou wretch, on what account 
thou art here, for many words causing pleasure or 
offence, or exciting our pity, even extort speech 
from the dumb. 

PoL I will speak, for well thou admonishest me ; 
first, calling the god to my assistance, from whom 
the governor of this land hath encouraged me to 
come hither, granting me liberty to speak and hear, 
with leave in safety to depart hence ; and the same 
leave would I obtain from you strangers, from my 
sisters, and father. But why I come, I will tell 
thee, father ; I am expelled my native country as a 
fugitive, because I thought fit I should sit in your 
all-governing throne, being the elder. Wherefore 
Eteocles, the younger, drove me from my country, 
nor overcame me with arguments, nor came to proof 
of hands or deeds, but by persuading the city, of 
which evils I think your fury persecuting me is 
chiefly the cause ; for afterwards I heard the same 
from the prophets. But when I came to Doric 
Argos, bringing Adrastus, my father-in-law, I join- 
ed to myself some sworn friends, who are called the 
chief of the distant land, and are much honoured 
for their skill in war ; that, assembling my forces 
with sev€n leaders against Thebes, I might either 
die in the cause of justice, or cast out of the land 
those who did these things. But let this pass, I 
will speak why I am come, I address my suppliant 
prayers to you and those of my allies in war ; who 
now with seven ranks, and seven files of spears, 
surround the Theban country, as warlike Amphia- 
raus, who bears the prize in war, and the art of 
soothsaying ; the second is iEteolus Tydeus, the son 



274 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

of -^neus; the third, Eteodus, an Argive; the 
fourth, Hippomedon, his father Talaus sent; the 
fifth, Capaneus boasts that he will quickly waste 
with destruction the city of Thebes; the sixth is 
Parthenopaeus Areas, being named from his mother, 
who was before a virgin, the faithful son of Atalus. 
I yours, though not yours, but son of ill-fortune, 
but called yours, do lead an intrepid army from 
Argos against Thebes. We all beseech you, for 
your children's sake, and their safety, praying you 
to quit your grievous anger against me, who am 
hasting the punishment of my brother, who expelled 
me and deprived me of my kingdom : lor, if there 
be any faith in oracles, to whom thou art joined, to 
those it is said the victory should belong. Now, I 
beseech you, ' by the fountains which yield refresh- 
ing draughts, and by our kindred gods, to yield to 
me, and quit your anger, for we are beggars and 
strangers ; and thou a stranger, and live here flat- 
teiing others, thou and I having had the same for- 
tune.. But he reigning supreme in the royal palace, 
(woe is me!) sporting himself with our miseries, lives 
delicately, whom, if you agree to my mind, with 
little pride and as little labour, I will destroy. So 
I will lead thee back again, and place thee in thy 
palace myself, casting him out by force. And this, 
if you agree with me, I may boast that I will per- 
form ; but without you I have no hope of safety. 

Cho. Answer this man what is convenient, for the 
sake of him who sent him, then send him back 
again. 

Oed. But unless the governor of this land had 
sent him to me, desiring me to hear his words, he 
had never heard my voice; but now since he is 
thought worthy by Theseus, he shall go hence, first 

' By the fountains, <5rc.] As though he adjured him by the 
waters which nourished him, saith the Scholiast. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 275 

hearing from me such things as will not cheer him. 
When thou, base man, didst possess the sceptre 
and throne, (which thy brother now possesseth in 
Thebes,) thyself didst drive out thy father, and made 
me an exile, and to wear those garments which now 
thou weepest to see, because thou art in the same 
affliction with me. This is not the object of my 
grief, but of my patience, that I may live in remem- 
brance of thee, a parricide. For thou hast made me 
accustomed to those misfortunes ; thou hast expelled 
me, it is through thee I wander, so that I am forced 
to ask of others my daily food. And unless I had 
begat those two daughters for my nurses, I had not 
still been, as to thy part ; but now they preserve me, 
they are my nurses, they are men, not women, in 
bearing part of my sufferings ; but thou art begotten 
of another, and not of me. Wherefore, though no 
god yet lets loose his vengeance against thee, it will 
not be long, if these troops move towards the city of 
Thebes ; for you will have no reason to boast your 
overthrowing that city, but first shall fall all stained 
with blood, and your brother likewise ; for so the 
curses import which I before pronounced against 
you ; and now I likewise implore the same curses 
against you, that you may learn to revere your pa- 
rents, and may not dishonour your blind father, be- 
cause you were begotten of such. These did not 
so, wherefore your throne and kingdom they will 
possess, if the anciently celebrated vengeance sits 
on Jove's throne, according to the laws. But thou 
begone, contemptible wretch, and forsaken of me ; 
'taking with thee these curses which I call for 

* Taking with thee these curses.l The Scholiast tells us, that 
the reason of Oedipus's laying these curses on his children was as 
follows: it being the usual custom with them from every sacrifice 
to send Oedipus a shoulder, they, through negligence or forgetful- 
ness, sent him a tlii^h ; in which, tJiinking himself despised, like a 

T 2 



276 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

against you. May you neither possess your father's;* 
country by war, nor return to Argos, but die with 
your brothers hand, and kill him by whom you were 
expelled. Such imprecations I pronounce, and call 
against you the hated darkness of hell that it may 
give you room; and I invocate these goddesses, and 
the god of war, to send mortal hatred between you. 
Now, having heard these things, be gone, and tell all 
the Thebans, and your friends likewise, and faithful 
comrades, what gifts Oedipus hath distributed to 
his sons. 

Cho, O Polynices, I do not congratulate your 
arrival here ; now return back with all speed. 

Pol. Woe to my coming! woe to my companions! 
unhappy hour in which I came from Argos. Un- 
happy I whom none of my companions may speak 
to, nor may I return again but without speaking ! I 
perish in this ^^ondition! O sisters, daughters of 
Oedipus, since you have heard the terrible things 
which my father hath imprecated, do not, by the 
gods, those imprecations relate to you? For which 
of you thinks to return home? Do not dishonour 
me, but place me in my sepulchre, and perform my 
obsequies ; and this present praise which you receive 
for those good offices you pay my father, will still 
be amplified by your kind assistance to me. 

Ant, O Polynices ! I beseech you yield to this 
my one request. 

Pol. Dear sister, what is it? Speak. 

Ant. Lead back your army with all speed to 
Argos, and do not destroy thyself and the city. 

Pol. But that is not possible, for how can I as- 
semble again the same army if once I flee ? 

Ant. Why should you again be angry ? Or what 

j)assioijate and rash man as he was, he cursed them, wishing they 
might slay one another, which came to pass accordingly. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 277 

advantage will accme to you from the destruction of 
your country ? 

PoL It is base to flee, and that I, being the elder, 
should be so ridiculed by my brother. 

Ant. Thou seest his prophecies, how plain he 
utters them, who pronounces certain death to you both. 

Pol. My brother demands what I can never grant. 

Ant. Woe is me, a wretch ! who will dare to fol- 
low you, hearing what he hath prophesied ? 

Pol. I will not bring back ill news, since it be- 
longs to a good commander to speak the best, and 
not to say any thing terrible. 

Ant. Are you thus determined ? 

Pol. Do not detain me, but this expedition will 
be my care, though unfortunate and crossed by rea- 
son of my father and his curses. But may Jove 
prosper you if you will pay me your last offices 
being dead, since you can no more assist me alive. 
But let me now go, and fare you w ell, for hereafter 
you shall never see me more alive. 

Ant. O miserable! 

Pol. Do not bewailme. 

Ant. Who would not bewail you, brother, rush- 
ing upon death? 

Pol. If I must, I will die. 

Ant. Do not, but yield to me. 

Pol. Counsel not what is not fitting. 

A7it. O wretched me, if I am deprived of you! 

Pol. It is in the power of God to be born to 
this or that fortune, but I pray for you never to fall 
into troubles ; for you are unworthy every w ay to 
be unfortunate. 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 

Strophe I. 
Chorus, Oedipus, Antigone. 
Cho. New and unfortunate evils have happened 



278 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

to me from that miserable stranger, unless they are 
what fate decrees must happen ; for I will not speak 
rashly of what the gods decree. Time sees and 
disposes all things increasing mischief upon others. 
"The air thundered, O Jove. [Thunder heard. 

Oed. My children, will any of the inhabitants 
bring me hither good Theseus? 

Ant. Wliat design is it for which you call him ? 
this swift thunder will quickly send me to the dead; 
but send as quick as may be. [Thunder. 



ACT lY. SCENE IV. 
Antistrophe I. 
Chorus, Oedipus. 

Cho. Behold another hideous thunder rends the 
sky, an unutterable sound sent by Jove, and fear 
causeth my hair to stand erected. Celestial light- 
ning flashes again. What end will it produce? I 
fear the event, for it comes not in vain, nor without 
some dire portent. O great sky! O Jove! 

Oed. O children! the fatal period of my life ap- 
proaches, and there is no escape. 

Cho. How kno west thou that? What ground hast 
thou for that conjecture? 

Oed. I know too well ; but as quick as may be, 
let some one go and conduct the king of this coun- 
try to me. 

vStrophe II. 

Cho. Alas ! alas ! behold again an immense thun- 

" The air thundered^ O Jove!'] As Oedipus had said before 
there would be signs of his death, either thunder, or lightning, or 
earthquake ; so now, while the Chorus speaks, thunder is heard, 
as a token of his approaching death. In the unravelling of this 
plot there is a mechanism used, which is equal with that of the 
descent of a god ; for this storm, which is sent by Jove, supplieth 
the place of his personal appearance. See the notes upon Ajax, 
Act I. Scene I. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

der, sent by Jove, roars all around. Be favourabu 
Jove, be favourable. If thou art come to bring ad- 
versity upon the earth, may happiness be my lot ; 
nor, because I have seen this miserable man, let me 
sustain a loss where thanks are due. O Jove, I in- 
voke thee. 

Cho. What matter of secrecy would you commit 
to his breast ? 

Oed. For the benefits I have rieceived, I would 
render him due thanks, as I promised. 

Antistrophe II. 

Cho. Ho ; son, approach, if upon the utmost 
shore of Neptune, the sea-god, you worship the 
sacred altar on which oxen are slain, come ; for this 
stranger resolves to render due thanks to you, this 
city, and his friends, for the good turns he received. 
Make haste, my lord. Fly. 



ACT V. SCENE I. 
Theseus, Oedipus, Chorus. 

Thes. What noise is this again among you that 
echoes to my ears ? the voice is yours, I know, and 
it is plainly for the stranger s sake. Hath not the 
thunderbolt of Jove or rain fallen? for all things, 
when the god thus raiseth tempests, are to be 
dreaded. 

Oed. But is Theseus near ? Will he find me alive 
and in my senses ? 

Cho. My lord, thy coming answers to our wish ; 
and some god granted you the happy fortune to 
come now. 

Thes. What new thing is this, son of Laius ? 

Oed. This is the last moment of my life, and of 
what I have promised I would not defiaud you and 
this city. 



280 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

Thes. On what certain sign of death dost thou 
depend ? 

Oed. The gods themselves, who are never false, 
declare it me by certain signs. 

Thes. How sayest thou, old man, these things 
are declared ? 

Oed, By many continual thunderings, and many 
thunderbolts hurled from the invincible hand of Jove. 

Thes, Thou prevailest upon me, for I see thee 
utter many unerring prophecies. Teach what is to 
be done. 

Oed, I will teach thee, son of iEgeus, things 
which are perpetually to be established to thee and 
this city. I will myself lead presently to the place, 
without a guide, where I must die ; " but tell not 
that to any man, nor where my body is, for that 
place will supply to you the strength of many spears 
against the foreign arms of the Thebans ; but sacred 
words and unutterable, thyself shalt know, when 
thou comest thither alone. I would not mention 
them to any of the citizens, nor to my children, 
though I love them; and, when thou approachest 
the end of thy life, declare them only to one, the 
most excellent man, and let him always declare 
them to the next succeeding : so shalt thou always 
inhabit this city, invincible by Theban power. For 
innumerable cities, where first only justice reigned, 
have often become unjust; but, the gods, though 
late, will surely punish the crimes of such, who, for- 
saking the ways of piety and justice, follow the dic- 
tates of an unruly will. But thou, son of ^geus, 
let not that be thy case ; and this I tell thee, which 
is no more than thou knowest already. But let us 

^ ^ut tell not that, S^c.'] His design was, in laying this charge 
on Theseus, that he concealing the thing from all but one, as his 
eldest son, to whom he is to reveal it, and he to his, and so for 
succeeding generations, it might ever be a defence of the Thebans 
against the Athenians, 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 281 

go to the place, for the present decree of the gods 
urgeth me, nor need we dread the danger. My 
children, follow this way, I am now become your 
guide, as you were before your father s. Be gone, 
touch me not, but suffer me to find out the sacred 
tomb where it is my lot to be interred. Go here, 
lead me here, Mercury, my guide, leads me here, 
and the infernal goddess. Oh ! my dark light, now 
where art thou ? my body now forsakes thee ; now I 
go to breathe out in the grave my last vital breath. 
But thou, most loved stranger, thou and this country, 
and thy servants, may you be happy in your poste- 
rity, remembering me when dead, and may you be 
ever fortunate. 



ACT V. SCENE II. 

Chorus, 

If it be lawful for me to worship thee, O ^ invisi- 
ble goddess, and thee, O Pluto, king of the dead, 
with prayers I beseech you that this stranger may 
reach the all-concealing regions of the dead and the 
Stygian shore, neither with a laborious or a dolorous 
death : for, since many evils came upon thee wrong- 
fully, may the just god in return bless thee. O sub- 
terraneous goddesses, and thee, ^ invincible beast, 
who (as fame reports) dost lie in the well-fortified 
gates and barkest from the caves of the dead, invin- 

y Invisible goddess.] i, e. Proserpine. 

* Invincible beast.] Gr. o-w/xar' aviy.jjra ^n^oq, body of the invin- 
cible beast, i. e. Cerberus ; he is feigned to be the porter of hell, 
and is called by Horace, Bellua Centiceps, lib. ii. od. 13. ^n. 
vi. V. 417. Plutonis canem cerea voce, quinquaginta Capitum, 
"A^a T^iK^oivov a-ycv'ha.y.oi,. In the Trachiniae, his office is to assign out 
the places of the dead; the fiction of his three heads is, because 
all men die one of these three kinds of deaths, either natural, vio- 
lent, or accidental. 



282 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

cible porter among the ghosts below, and thee, O 
son of earth and hell, I beseech, for this stranger, 
that he may descend quietly to the inferior regions 
of the dead; ^and thee likewise I invocate, thou 
ever-sleeping death. 



ACT V. SCENE III. 
Messenger, Chorus. 

Mess. O citizens, in short I tell you Oedipus is 
dead; but what is done speech cannot in short de- 
clare, nor how things there were acted. 

Cho. Is the wretch dead? 

Mess, Know that he hath forsaken his tedious 
life. 

Cho. How, by a gentle accident caused by divine 
power? 

Mess. It is much to be admired, for how he went 
hence, by none of his friends led, thou who wast 
present knowest ; but when he came to a steep way, 
paved on the ground with brazen steps, he stood in 
one way which concurred with many near a hollow 
sink, where lie ''the faithful pledges of Pirithous 
and Theseus. Standing between which place and 
the Thracian rock, and hollow Acherdus, he sat on 

* And thee likewise /, S^cl The Chorus iuvocates death as the 
last of all the infernal deities for an easy death for Oedipus. 

^ The faithful pledges, d^cl Plutarch, in the life of Theseus, 
tells us, that there was a strict friendship between him and Piri- 
thous, whom, being in love with Proserpine, he took with him to 
hell to bring her from thence. But, upon his return, when he 
would likewise have brought him back, they were parted by an 
earthquake, and Pirithous was detained, where he is bound with 
chains. 

— Amatorem trecentce 

Pirithoum cohibent cateneB. Hor. 

But it is not certain that this was the place. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 283 

a stone sepulchre ; then he put off his filthy gar- 
ments, then called to his children and commanded 
them to bring him 'washings of flowing water; who 
going into a high hill w here stood a ^ temple sacred 
to Ceres, in a short time perform the commands of 
their father : they adorned him w ith garments, and 
washed his body, as is usual. But when he had the 
pleasure of having every thing done, and no slack- 
ness appeared, Jove thundered; but the virgins 
trembled when they heard it, and, falling down be- 
fore their father's knees, wept, nor ceased from 
beating their breasts, and tedious lamentations. But 
he hearing their sorrowful voice, folding his arms 
round them said, O children, this day you have no 
more a father ; all things to me are nothing, nor shall 
you take any more anxious care for me, which I 
know was hard to you. But one word only easeth 
you of all those cares ; there is no man which had 
more love for you than I, deprived of w horn you will 
lead the remaining part of your life. Dividing such 
things among each other, all sadly wept; but when 
they made an end of their mourning, and there was 
no more clamour heard, a profound silence succeed- 
ed, and suddenly a voice called him, which caused 
all people's hair to stand upright with fear. God's 

* Washings of flowing water.'] After the body of the person 
doomed to die was washed, the next thing was to anoint it, and 
then it was adorned with a rich and splendid garment. Hence we 
find Socrates washed himself before he took the fatal draught, and 
Apollodorus brought him a cloak with a garment of great value, it 
being the philosopher's own desire to prepare himself for his fune- 
ral before he died. But ordinarily this, and almost all offices for 
the dead were performed by their nearest relations ; in conformity 
to which custom, Oedipus prepares himself for his funeral by 
washing and adorning his body. 

^ Temple sacred to Ceres,] Gr. Iv^Xoa A^/x»3lgo?, flourishing 
Ceres. She hath this epithet by reason of the greenness of gar- 
dens over which she is supposed to preside; she had a temple in 
the Acropolis, and her sacrifice was a ram generally oflfered on the 
sixth day of Thargelion. 



284 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

voice called him much every where, * O thou Oedi- 
pus, why do we not depart ? thou hast caused much 
delay. When he understood he was called by God, 
he bids king Theseus come to him, and when he 
came, he said, beloved friend give me thy hand, the 
pledge of friendship to my children ; and children, 
give yours to him ; and promise you will never be- 
tray them willingly, but Miat thou wilt do always 
what thou thinkest is convenient for them. Then 
he, as a generous man, not out of pity but his noble 
mind, promised by oath to execute the stranger's 
will: but, when he had done this, presently Oedipus 
touching his children with his feeble hands, says, O 
children, you must with courageous minds depart 
these places, nor desire to see what is not lawful to 
be seen, nor hear what is not to be heard. Begone, 
therefore, with all speed, but let Theseus come and 
know what is to be done. These things we all 
heard him speak. Then, dissolved in tears we fol- 
low with the maids ; but when in a short time we 
returned, we saw the man no where, but the king 
covering his eyes, having his hands up to his head, 
as if some new terrible object were in view not to be 
seen. After that, in a short time we see him wor- 
shipping the earth and Olympus, the seat of the 
gods, in the same prayer : but by what fate he fell 
no mortal could declare, but Theseus ; for, neither 
the fire-bearing thunderbolt of Jove killed him, nor 
waves of the sea then raised by storms, but either 
some messenger of the gods, or a gentle gradual 
opening of the earth, caused by the infernal gods. 
For the man, without one tear free from the power of 
consuming disease, was snatched away: but, if 
there be some strange man who will not credit my 

® O thou Oedipus, why do we.] The contrivance of the poet 
is admirable here, in representing to the mind what'cannot easily 
be expressed in words, i. e. the strange and surprising manner in 
which Oedipus was taken away. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 285 

report, I will not assent to him to whom I seem to 
be mistaken. 

Cho. Where are his children and friends who ac- 
companied him ? 

Mess. They are not far off, for their shrill voices 
of lamentation discover their approach. 



ACT V. SCENE IV. 
Antigone, Chorus, Ismene. 

Afit. Alas, alas ! now it is time for us greatly to 
lament the loss of our dear father, for whom before 
we endured much labour. At last unutterable sor- 
rows, which om- eyes have witnessed, overwhelm us. 

Cho, What are they ? 

Ant. My friends, beyond compare. 

Cho. Is he dead? 

Ant. If any wished for Oedipus's death, the fates 
have granted his desire. 

Cho. What his, whom neither war nor sea oppo- 
sed, but the plain earth invisible seized bv an obscure 
fate! 

Aiit. O wretched me, destructive night hath over- 
cast our eyes! Shall we, wandering in some foreign 
land, or on the wide roaring sea, lead our sad lives ? 

Is77i. I know not ; may cruel Pluto seize me that 
I may die with my old father ; for I have no desire 
of longer life. 

Cho. O thou two best of children, what God 
hath ordained ought patiently to be borne. Let not 
your grief overcome you so ; your condition is not 
so much to be complained of. 

Ant. There is some desire of evil, for that which 
is no way pleasing was pleasing when we possessed 
it. O, my father, thou art involved in perpetual 
darkness beneath the earth ; though an old man, to 
me thou wast beloved, and still with me thy memory 
shall be precious. 



286 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

Cho. He hath ended his life. 

Ant. As he desired to do. 

Cho, How? 

Ant. On a strange land, as he desired, he hath 
for ever his dark bed beneath the earth. Nor did 
he die unlamented, for this my weeping eye forever 
will lament thee, father ; nor is it in the power of 
time to banish from my breast such grief. Woe is 
me ! thou shouldst not have died on a strange land, 
but thou didst die here forsaken. 

Antistrophe n. 

Ism. Woe is me ! What fortune waits me here 
poor and forsaken, and thee, my sister, deserted 
of our father ? 

Cho. But since he happily unished the term of his 
years, cease ftom grief; for ijone is free from evils. 

Ant. Sister, let us be gone. 

Ism. To do what? 

Ant. A desire possesses me. 

Ism. What? 

Ant. To see the subterranean house. 

Ism. Of whom ? 

Ant. Of my father. O wretched I ! 

Ism. How is that lawful? Dost thou not see? 

Ant. Why dost thou^ reprimand ? 

Ism. And now. 

Ant. What, again? 

Ism. He died without sepulchre, separate from 
any man— 

Ant. Lead me, and kill me there. 

Ism. Ah, unhappy I ; where, therefore, shall I 
wander, and, forsaken, lead my life? 

Cho. Fear nothing, friends. 

Ant. But whither shall I flee? 

Cho. Before you fled that no ill should happen 
to you. 

Ant. I think. 



OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 287 

Cho. What dost thou think ? 

Ant. I know not how we shall get home. 

Cho. Inquire not that : sorrow hath overwhelmed 
thee. 

Ant. Much before, now beyond measure. 

Cho. You are plunged in wide seas of woe. 

Ant. Great and unfathomable. 

Cho. And that I likewise affirm. 

Ant. Alas! alas! whither shall we go? O, Jove, 
to what small hope hast thou reduced me? 

Cho. Cease, virgins, from these lamentations; 
for those, to whom desired death hath happened, we 
ought not to lament ; it is a fault. 

Ant. Son of jEgeus, we adore thee. 

Thes. What would you have me to gTant you ? 

Ant. ^ We would see our father's tomb. 

Thes. But the liberty is denied you of going 
thither. 

Ant. What sayest thou, king of the Athenians ? 

Thes. Children, he forbad me either to approach 
to these places, or to tell any mortal of the sacred 
tomb which covers him ; which command, if I 
obeyed, he said that I should forever rule this land, 
secure from ill ; and this your God hath heard, and 
the oath of Jove, which hears all things. 

Ant. If then this be according to his will it suf- 
ficeth us, but send us to the ^ Theban city, that we 
prevent the ruin which threatens our brothers. 



^ We would see our father's tomb.] Probably her design in de- 
siring to see the sepulchre was that she might weep over it, which 
is customary with her sex after the death of their friends, and 
agrees with the tenderness of their nature. * 

£ Theban city.] Gr. ©-^^a? 'nfu^is?, i. e. Ogygian Thebes, so 
called from Ogyges, or Ogygus, the most ancient king of Thebes, 
who repaired and beautified that city. He is said to have been 
contemporary with the patriarch Jacob, but Hieronymus brings 
him down to Moses's time. See Dr. Potter's x\rchaeoi. Graeca on 
the word 'fiyvfto?, vol. i. p. 25. 



288 OEDIPUS COLONEUS. 

Thes. That I will do, and whatsoever else I can, 
to favour you and him who is lately deceased and 
lies in his grave ; I ought not to be tired by doing 
well. 

Cho. But cease, nor repeat again your lamenta- 
tion ; for all those things were pre-ordained by a 
divine decree. 



THE 



TRACHINI^. 



Bvamaii^ llet0onae. 



Hyllus. 

LiCHAS. 

A Messenger. 

An old Man who followed Hercules from Eiiboea. 

Hercules. 

WOMEN. 

Deianira. 

Her Companion or Tutoress. 
A Nurse, Maid to Deianira. 
Chorus of Trachinian Ladies. 

SCENE—Before Ceyx's Palace in Trachiiu 



THE TRACHINIiE. 



The Argument. — This Tragedy hath its title from the 
young ladies of Trachis, Trachin, or Trachinia, which composed 
tTie Chorus. It is a small counti^y in Phthiotis, one of the four 
parts of Thessaly, where Ceyx was king. There Hercules ba- 
nished himself voluntarily, for the murder of Eunomaus, kinsman 
to his host, and father in-law to Oeneus. When he came to the 
river Evenus, with Deianira, his wife, A^essus, the Centaur, 
carried Deianira over ; and, having so done, attempted to lavish 
her. At which Hercules, enraged, shot him with his arrow, 
poisoned with the blood of the monster Hydra. 

Nessus, expiring by his wound, told Deianira, that if she 
f^would preserve his blood, and dip therein a garment for Hercules, 
it would for ever attract his love to her from all other women. 
The credulons Deianira believed the Centaur, and soon found oc- 
casion to use this philtre. For Hercules, captivated with the love 
of lole, daughter of Eurytus, king of Oechalia, and being 
denied her by Eurytus ; to revenge the affiant, feigned some 
trifling pretence to wage war against him, in which he destroyed 
Oechalia, put him and his sons to the sword, and brought away 
lole. Deianira, perceiving that she was like to be rivalled in the 
love of Hercules, sent him a garment dipped in the Centaur's 
blood, by the herald Lichas, to Cenceum, a promontory in Euboea, 
where Hercules was preparing to sacrifice to Jupiter Cenaus, for 
his happy success in the war. Hercules received the garment joy- 
fully ; but, when the poison began to work, immediately it stuck so 
to his flesh that it could not be parted from it. Then succeeded 
violent convulsions, tearing his flesh and bones, and other sad effects 
of the poison. In this condition he is brought to Trachinia, where 
Deianira, hearing the sad news, stabbed herself ; and Hercules, 
having left a strict command with his son, Hyllus, to marry lole, 
was burnt on a pile, made for that purpose, on mount Oeta. 



ACT I. SCENE I. 

Deianira, Tutoress, Hyllus. 

Dei. It is an ancient saying famous among men, 
that ^ we can judge of no man's life, whether it hath 
been happy or miserable, before he dies ; but I know 
mine to be sad and unfortunate before I reach my 
grave, who, living in my father Oeneus's house, in 
^ Pleuron, suffered more grievous trouble on account 
of my marriage than any jEtolian lady : for a river 
was my suitor, AcheloUs I mean, who in his three 
shapes desired me of my father ; now as he walked 
' he plainly seemed a bull, anotheir time a twisted 

* We can judge of no man*s life.] This saying vrd% spoken by 
Solon to Croesus, king of Lydia, who, shewing Solon all his wealth 
and soldiers in golden armour, and the golden altar of Apollo, 
asked him, who of all men he thought happier than he: Solon 
answered, that Cleobis and Biton were. At which the king 
grieved, asked whom he thought next in happiness, but still Solon 
answered another. The king growing more and more uneasy, 
Solon told him, that a man ought to wait until the last day of his 
life, before he can tell whether it be happy or miserable. For, 
added he, the time will come when thou shall wage war against the 
Persians, and shalt be sacrificed to their god. Accordingly, being 
overcome by Cyrus, he was thrown into the fire. While he was 
burning, he cried out, Solon, Solon ; wherefore a shower sent by 
Apollo put out the fire. Cyrus asked him the reason of that ex- 
clamation, who told him the words of Solon; at which Cyrus 
wondering, dismissed him, and made him his counsellor. 

^ Pleuron.] OrPleuroue: it is a city in ^tolia, a part of 
Greece. 

^ He plainly seemed a hull.] All rivers by the ancients were 
compared to bulls, by reason of the violence of their streams, and 
roaring noise caused by the waters dashing against the rocks or 
banks. Hor. lib. iv. od. 14. 

Sic tauri/oimis volvitur Aujidus. 

Or els€ because they divide and tear the earth as bulls ; or, lastly, 
because of tlie fertile pastures near the sides of rivers. 

u 2 



292 THE TRACHINIi*:. 

spotted dragon, another time in human shape with a 
bull's head : *^ for, from his hairy beard, floods of 
foimtain water flow, and wretched I, expecting such 
a wooer, ever prayed to die, rather than approach 
his bed. But after a long time, yet, to my great 
satisfaction at last, came the famous son of Jove and 
Alcmena, who engaging with him in a combat, set 
me free. I cannot speak the manner of the conflict, 
for I know it not ; if any fearless of the spectacle sat 
by, he may tell; for I was amazed with fear, lest my 
beauty at last should cause my grief At last Jupi- 
ter, the governor of combats, ordered it well (if well 
it be) for enjoying the profered bed of Hercules, 1 
am ever tormen ed with succeeding fears, and ever 
solicitous for his welfare. In the same night that I 
receive him, he departs again, one labour still suc- 
ceeding another; and I have home children, whom 
he, as a husbandman taking a far distant field, seeth 
* only in seed-time, and once in harvest. Such a life 
leads my lord, still coming home, and still returning 
^ to serve I know not whom ; and, when he is victor 
in any combat, then chiefly I dread, for since he 



^ For from his hairy beard.] There is an image in Virgil like 
this, where he speaks of Atlas changed by Perseus into a moun- 
tain of that name, ^neid iv. v. 250. 



tumjlumina mento 



Prctcipitant senis, et glacie riget horrida harha. 

« To serve I know not whom,] She means Eurystheus, king of 
Mycense; for, before he and Hercules were born, fate had decreed 
that he who should be born last must serve the other. Juno, 
therefore, being step-mother to Hercules, and hating him, caused 
him to be born last; wherefore he was subject to Eurystheus, and 
by him sent upon many laborious expeditions, too tedious here to 
mention. Virgil charges all his labours upon the unkindness of 
Juno. iEneid viii. v. 291. 

Ut duros mille labor es 



Rege sub EurystheOy fatis Junonis iniquct, 
Pertulit. ' 



THE TRACHINIi^. 293 

took the life of Iphitus, we live here in Trachin, 
€xiles ^ with a foreign king. *But none knows where 
he is gone, yet hath he left me in sad sorrows for 
him ; and 1 almost knoAV he hath received some mis- 
chief, for it is not a little while, but these ten months 
and five more, he hath continued absent without 
sending any message of his return. There is some 
sad mischief happened to him. He went away, 
leaving me ^ such a roll, which I often pray to the 
gods I received of him without any harm. 

Tut. O my lady Deianira, I have seen you lament 
the departure of Hercules with sorrowful sad lamen- 
tations ; but now, if it be just for those in bondage 
to admonish the free, and it becomes me to speak 
so far, how comes it you abound with so many 
children, but send none in search of thy husband, 
but chiefly Hyllus, whom it is fit should go, if he 
hath any care for his father's safety? But now in 
season he comes home, wherefore if you think I 
speak in season, now is the time to make use of his 
help, and my counsel. 



AQT I. SCENE H. 

Deianira^ Hyllus, Tutoress, 

Dei. O son! good speeches even from the mouths 
of the ignoble happen well ; for this woman, though 
a servant, yet hath spoken what might become one 
who is free. 

^ With a foreign king.] i. e. Ceyx. Thus Hesiod, 



s Such a roll.] Hercules, at his departure, left with liis wife 
a tablet, wherein it was written, that if he returned not within 
fifteen months, she might know that he was dead. 



294 THE TRACHINI^. 

Hyl. What? tell me, mother, if it be ought I may 
hear with decency. 

Dei. That it is a shame for you, your father being 
so long- a stranger,' not to inquire where he is. 

Hyl. But I know, if one may believe rumours. 

JDei. In what part of the earth, my son, do you 
hear he stays ? 

Hyl. They say, that, for more than this whole 
year past, he hath served a woman of Lydia. 

Dei. If it were so that he hath suffered this bond- 
age, some might have heard it all. 

Hyl. But he is freed from thence, as I hear. 

Dei. Where is he, therefore, now reported to be 
ahve or dead ? 

Hyl. They say he hath undertaken an expedition 
against the land of Eubcea, and city of Eurytus, or 
is about it. 

Dei. But dost thou know, my son, that he left me 
some certain oracles concerning that country ? 

Hyl. What, mother ; I know not a word. 

Dei. That he must either end his life, or overcome 
in this trial, and for the future in happiness lead the 
remaining part of his life : wherefore, my son, now 
in the very precipice of fate, wilt thou not go and 
help thy father? since we shall be safe or fall, but 
as he perishes or preserves his life, we will go toge- 
ther. 

Hyl. I go, mother, and if I had known the report 
of the oracle, long since I had been with him : his 
accustomed success suffers us not to fear, or be 
much concerned for him : now, since I know it, no- 
thing I will omit, but search out the whole truth in 
this affair. 

Dei. Go now, my son ; for to do well, though 
late, when he is admonished, brings advantage.. 



THE TRACHINI^. 295 

ACT I. SCENE III. 

Chorus, Deianira. 

Strophe I. 

Cho. O thou to whose empire the starry night 
gives place, but whom, when returned, she conceals 
in the dark womb, bright ruler of the day, the sun, I 
thee invoke to declare this to me, where the son of 
Alcmena abides. O bright burning flame, is he 
quartered on the islands near the sea, or between 
the eastern and the western continent? Speak, O 
thou who excellest in seeing. 

Antistrophe I. 

For I hear that Deianira with a longing mind for 
Hercules, and driven alternately from hope to fear, 
^' as the miserable bird, never composeth to sleep her 
weeping eyes: but mindful of her lord, dreads his 
journey, and, pining away, thinks of her widowed 
bed, expecting some sad fate. 

Strophe II. 

As one seeth in the broad sea many waves ebbing 
and flowing, driven by the unwearied south-Avest 
and north wind; so is Theban born Hercules, 
brought up and exercised in many evils, as the Cre- 
tan sea is tossed : but still some of the gods keep 
him, being unblameable, from the mansions of the 
dead. 

Antistrophe II. 
Therefore I will blame thee, and speak words 

^ As the miserable bird.] Gr. ci^Xiov o^ni/, i. e. the swallow. See 
the notes on Electra, Act I. Scene II. If yoij read aAtov o^hv, 
then it is a halcyon, which hatcheth her young in the rocks near 
the sea, and weeps when they are flown, and her eggs gone. The 
comparison of Deianira to either of them is not improper. 



296 THE TRACHINIjE. 

which shall be pleasing, though contrary to what you 
would speak; for I say you ought not to lay aside 
good hope: nor hath king Jove, who governs all 
things, given ought to men without pain, but grief 
and joy encircling flows on all as uncertainly as the 
paths of Arc turns. 

Epqde. 

For neither doth the staiTy night remain with 
men, nor the fates, nor riches ; but suddenly they 
are gone: to me it is allotted both to rejoice and be 
again deprived of joy. Which things I say, O 
queen, ought to support you in hopes ; for who thus 
ever saw Jove void of care for his children? 

Dei. Thou seemest to have heard my affliction, 
and therefore art come to me ; but how I suffer, and 
how my soul languishes, thou knowest not, but still 
art ignorant : for ' youth is fed in its own pastures, 
nor doth the fire of the god, (i. e. love,) nor rain, nor 
winds disturb them : but in pleasure chooseth a life 
free from trouble, until any instead of maid is called 
the youth's wife, and in the night partakes of his 
cares, fearing for her husband or her children; then 
may she understand, seeing her own manner of life, 
with what ills I am oppressed. For many suflierings 
1 have lamented, but one such as never before, I 
shall mention: when Hercules, my king, went forth 
upon his last journey from home, then he there left 
an ancient written tablet, inscribed with certain tes- 
taments, which before, though he went out to many 
combats, he never mentioned to me ; but went out 

^ Youth is fed in its own pastures.^ Nothing disturbs youth, 
but as a mighty wall it stands unhurt, nor feels the ills which 
others suffer who are married. Horace makes the like comparison 
of his mistress, Lyde : 

QucE, velut latis equa trima campis, 
Ludit exultim, metuit que tangly 
Nuptiarum expers, Sfc, 



THE TRACHINIiE. 297 

as to perform some exploit, not to die : but now, as 
though he were no more, he bid me take my share 
of wealth for a second bed, and mentioned what 
share of their father's land he divided to his chil- 
dren; and appointing a year and three months time 
to be absent from his country, said, he must either 
die in that time, or by escaping to the end of it, lead 
a life free from sorrow. All this he said was what 
the gods decreed should come to pass concerning 
the labours of Hercules, as, he said, the ancient 
'^ beech tree, at Dodona, spoke, and the two doves. 
And certainly this day hath seen the accomplish- 
ment of this oracle, and all is past. This makes 
me, O my friends, in my sweet sleep trembling, start 
out for fear, that I must live deprived of the best of 
men. 

Cho. Good words, I pray ; for I see some man 
coming crowned to speak mth joy. 



ACT I. SCENE IV. 

Messenger, Deianira, Chorus. 

Mess, O Deianira, my queen, I, the first mes- 
senger, free you from fear ; for know the son of 

^ Beech tree at Dodona, and the two doves.] Near Dodona, a 
city of Chaonia, in Epirus, there was a temple and grove of oaks 
and beeches consecrated to Jupiter Dodonaeus, and m it a parti- 
cular beech-tree, upon which two doves sate and prophesied: 
others say they were rather ancient priestesses, and called pigeons, 
by reason of the greyness of their hair: for the Molossi, of Epirus, 
called all ancient people grey, or iro^mq. Herodotus gives another 
reason why they were called doves, viz. because they being barba- 
rians spoke like birds. Euripides says they were three, others 
two, and that one of them came from Thebes to the oracle of 
Jupiter Amnion, in Libya, and the other to Dodona. See Dr. 
Potter's Arciiaeol. Graec. vol. i. p. 266, &c. 



298 THE TRACHINI^. 

Alcmena is alive and victorious, and hath brought 
from the fight ^ first-fruits, worthy the gods. 

Dei. What speech is this, old man, thou talkest 
to me ? 

JMess, That your much-loved lord will soon ap- 
pear at home with a victorious army. 

Dei. Say est thou so ? And hast thou learnt this 
of citizens or strangers ? 

Mess. Lichas, the herald, in yon verdant pasture, 
declared it, and, hearing it of him, I flew, that, 
first telling you this pleasant news, I might both 
gain some reward and enjoy your favour. 

Dei. If he be well, why, therefore, is he absent? 

Mess. It is not with much pleasure to himself, my 
lady, for all the people of Melia standing round 
examine him ; nor hath he power to hasten his 
coming, for every one, desiring to know what they 
hoped for, suffered him not to go, ere they were 
satisfied with hearing ; and he, though unwillingly, 
stays with those who are desirous to keep him ; but 
soon thou wilt see him. 

Dei. O Jove, who presidest over Oeta's verdant 
pastures, thou hast given us joy, though after a long 
time ! Ye matrons, shout for joy, both you who 
are in your houses and who are without, for an un- 
hoped for light of fame is risen which I now enjoy. 

Epodica Strophe. 

Cho. Ye bachelors, let the voice of joy be heard 
in your houses I and ye husbands, join your voices 

^ First-fruits, worthy the gods.] i.e. Spoils, perhaps, which 
were to be offered to Zv^v) r^oirafw, for the ancient heroes always 
offered up the chief and most valuable part of the spoils to the 
gods, to whose help they thought the victory was due. Thus, in 
the Philoctetes, Hercules charged that prince to offer at his altar 
the first-fruits of the spoils which they took from Troy, as a 
tribute due to him, for the assistance of his arrows in taking that 
city. 



I 



THE TRACHINItE. 299 

in the concert ! Apollo, well armed with a quiver, 
the great god of Paeans. 

Antistrophe. 

Ye virgins, celebrate with hymns ! and his "" Or- 
tygian sister, likewise, the huntress of deers, fire- 
bearing Diana, and her neighbouring nymphs. O 
I am transported with ecstatic joy, nor will I refuse 
the sound of music, O sovereign of my breast. 

Epode. 
Behold, rapture disturbs me, and sends me to 
join the troop of Bacchanals, lo Paean ! lo Paean ! 
Behold, dear lady, now may you plainly see joys, 
contrary to your former fears. 



ACT II. SCENE I. 
Deianira, Chorus, 

Dei. I see, dear ladies, nor is the vigour of my 
eyes so far decayed that I cannot see this troop ; 
wherefore, joy to the herald who late appears, if he 
brings any good news. 



ACT II. SCENE II. 

Lie has y ivith a Train, Deianira, Messe7iger, Chorus, 

Lich, Well, are we come, and joyfully, speak, 
O lady, according, as the matter requires ; for the 
man who prospers ought to speak joyful words. 

Dei. Most loved of messengers, teach me what I 

" Orty^ian sister.l Ortygia is the same with Delos, the place 
where Diana was born and worshipped, whence she is called here 



300 THE TRACHINIiE. 

first would know, whether I shall receive Hercules 
alive or not. 

Lick. I left him alive, strong, and in health, nor 
grieved with any disease. 

Dei. Where ; in his father's, or any barbarian 
land ? Speak ! 

Lich. There is a shore in Eubcea where he hath 
^et up altars, and hath sacrificed first-fruits to " Ce- 
naean Jove. 

Dei. Is it to perforai some vows, or by decree of 
some oracle ? 

Lich. Vows : for he overcame in war the rebel- 
lious country of women, /which you see with your 
eyes. 

Dei. Now, by the gods, who is their rightful 
Iprd, and who are they ? They are miserable unless 
their fortunes deceive me. 

Lich. These he, having destroyed the city of 
Eurytus, took, slaves for himself, selected for the 
gods. 

Dei. Was he at this city so long time since his 
departure hence ? 

Lich. No ; but the most part of his time he spent 
in Lydia ; as himself says, himself not free, but 
sold ; nor ought you to blame that of which Jove 
was the author, for he, being bought by Omphale, 
the Barbarian, completed a year in her service, as 
himself says. He was so stung by that reproach, 
that, with an oath, he swore he would bring into 
bondage, with his wife and children, him who was 
the author of his sufferings ; nor did his words prove 
vain, but, when he was pure from the slaughter of 
Iphitus, taking an army, which he had raised on 
purpose, he came to the city of Eurytus ; for he 



^ Cencean Jove.] Cenaeum was a promontory m Eubcea sacred 
to Jupiter, as, indeed, were all mountains, he being v-^k;to<; 0eo?, 
the supreme God, and there it was usual to sacrifice to him.# 



I 



THE TRACHINIiE. 301 

said that he, of all men, was the only cause of his 
affliction, who, when he came to his house an old 
guest, provoked him w ith many reproaches, speak- 
ing with a malicious mind, and saying, that, though 
he had inevitable arrows in his hand, yet he was 
much ° inferior to his children, in judgment, in the 
art of casting darts ; and said, that, as a servant, 
he was afflicted by a free man. And, when he w as 
drunk with wine, he cast him out of the company, 
at which, enraged, when Iphitus came to celebrated 
Tu-ynthia, seeking horses among the herd, when his 
mind w as one way and his eyes another, he cast 
him down the high battlements of a tower ; and for 
that deed, his father, Olympian Jove, the universal 
king, being angry, sent him sold away, nor endured 
him, because he had slain by fraud only one man ; 
for, had he openly revenged himself, Jove had for- 
given him for his just revenge in punishing him ; for 
the gods above do not favour oppression. But the 
sons of Eurytus, who insulted him with reproachful 
language, are all now^ inhabitants with those below ; 
the city is in bondage, and those whom you see, 
who, from prosperity, lead a miserable life, come 
to you ; for so your lord commanded, and I, being 
faithful to him, perform his command. But, when he 
hath performed pure sacrifices to his father, Jove, 
for the taking the city, you w ill receive him safe, for 
that, after a long speech, w ell spoken, affords most 
pleasure to your longing ears. 

° Inferior to his children.'] The Scholiast says, that Eurytus 
made an offer of his daughter lole to Hercules, if he overcame 
his sons in the art of shooting arrows. There are different 
opinions concerning the number of Eurytus's children ; Hesiod 
speaks of five, viz. A^jiwv, K^^tjo?, TofEu?, and ''Kp^oq. And, in 
the following verse, he mentions lole : 

Tuq ^s fjt,e^' o'TrXolarrtv nriado ^cta^viv 'loXstav. 

It is a mistake, therefore, of the Scholiast to say he mentions but 
four. Aristocrates mentions only three, viz. Toxeus, Clytius, 
iind Dei on. 



302 THE TRACHINI^E. 

Cho. Now, queen, have you received true delight 
both from tliis present slate of affairs, and from the 
news this herald doth report. 

Dei. Why should I not rejoice, hearing his for- 
tunate success, and justly gained ? It is very fit I 
should rejoice with him, yet those who rightly judge 
of fortune's inconstancy, should fear least he who 
prospers at last should miscarry. For sad pity in- 
vades me, O my friends, seeing these miserable 
ladies in a strange country, absent from home, cap- 
tives, and bereaved of parents ; who, probably, 
before descended of free parents, but now lead a 
servile life. O Jo\e, our defender, let me never see 
thee turning thus thy rage against my offspring, or 
if you will do ought against them, let it not be while 
I am alive ; for so I fear you will, beholding these 
unhappy wretches. What youth art thou ? [jTo lole,'] 
Art thou a virgin or a mother ; for, as to your age, . 
you seem to be unskilled in all marriage affairs, and 
nobly born. O Lichas, whose daughter is this 
stranger ? who is her mother ? and who her father ? 
who begat her ? speak, for I pity her more than the 
rest, for she seems to me in wisdom to excel them 
all. 

Licit. What do I know? Why dost thou ask 
me? Perhaps she is bom of some who are none 
of the meanest of the city. 

Dei. Is she of royal race, the daughter of Eurytus ? 

Lich. I know not, nor did I much inquire. 

Dei, Nor have you learnt her name from any 
who came with her ? 

Lich. Not at all, for silently I did my work. 

Dei. Thou wretched lady, speak thyself to us ; 
for this is some misfortune that we know not who 
thou art. 

Lich. If now she is silent, she will do no other- 
wise than before ; for she hath spoken nothing yet, 
neither much nor little ; but ever lamenting her sad 



THE TRACHINItE. 303 

calamities, the wretched lady wept since the time 
she left her father's country. This is her fortune, 
sad to her, so that her silence merits pardon, 

Dei. Let her alone, and let her go in quietly, so 
that her present evils may receive no more increase 
from these sad griefs with which my mind is oppressed ; 
for the present are enough. But let us all go home, 
and you hasten where you will, I will prepare every 
thing within that is convenient for the reception of 
my lord. [JExit Lichas, and tram. 



ACT II. SCENE III. 

Messenger, Deia?iira, Chorus. 

* Mess. But first stay here a little while, that you 
may learn whom you bring in, and what besides 
you never heard, and so know all that is needful ; 
for I have perfect knowledge of every thing. 

Dei. What is it ? Why do you stop my going ? 

Mess. Stand still and hear ; it was not in vain you 
listened to what I said before, nor do I think it is 
now. 

Dei. Shall we, therefore, call them again, or will 
you speak to these present and me? 

Mess. To you and these nothing hinders. But 
let them go. 

Dei. They are gone ; now let the tale be told. 

Mess. This man was true in nothing that he spoke, 
but either now he is a wicked man, or before he was 
no true messenger. 

Dei. What sayest thou ? Tell me plainly all thou 
knowest. For what thou hast said I know not. 

Mess. I heard Lichas say, many witnesses being 
present, that for the sake of this maid he took Eu- 



304 THE TRACHINIiE. 

rytus, and ° Oechalia, adorned with lofty towers^ 
and that love only induced him to do it ; not the 
bondage he underwent among the Lydians, or with 
Omphale, or the fate of Iphitus cast down, which 
he pretending, speaks contrary to what he did be- 
fore. For, when he could not persuade her father 
to give him the maiden, to enjoy her secret embraces, 
devising a small accusation against him, and trifling 
reason, he made war against the country of this 
maid, wherein he said that Eurytus ruled the king- 
dom, slew the king, her father, and destroyed the 
city. And now, as you see, he comes home, send- 
ing them before, not carelessly ; nor doth he send 
her as a servant, think not so ; nor is it likely he 
should, since he is fired with the love of her. I 
have thought fit, O queen, to shew thee every thing 
which I have learnt of him ; and this many in the 
middle of the forum of the Trachinians heard as 
well as I, so that he may be disproved. But if I 
speak not pleasing news, I am not rejoiced at that, 
yet have I spoke the truth. 

Dei. Woe is me, a wretch ! What do I, what 
private mischief do I receive under my roof. Woe 
is me ! But was her name unknown, as that com- 
mander swore? Certainly she is very beautiful, 
both in person and disposition. 

Mess. She is descended of her father, Eurytus, 
and was called lole, nor mentioned he her pedigree ; 
for truly he inquired nought of it, false man ! 

Cho, Let not all vile wretches perish, but him, 

^ Oechalia, adorned with lofty towers.] Pherecydes saitb, 
that Hercules came into Oechalia, a city of Arcadia, and desired 
lole of Eurytus, for his son, Hyllus, to wife; which request 
being refused, Hercules destroyed the city, and slew all his sons 
but Iphitus, who fled into Euboea. But Menecrates saith himself 
was in love with her, that Eurytus refused to yield her to him, 
but that he would have enjoyed her embraces, had he not been 
prevented by the Argians coming into Euboea. 



THE TRACHINIiE. 305 

whosoever he be that exerciseth himself in secret 
frauds. 

Dei. What must be done, O ye virgins ? How 
I am amazed with these discourses ! 

Cho. Go and inquire of himself, who will soon 
declare the truth, if you will extort it from him by 
violence. 

Dei. I will, for your dissent, not from my opinion. 

Cho. And shall we stay here, or what must we do ? 

Dei. Stay, for the man, though not called by any 
messenger, but of his own accord comes out. 



ACT II. SCENE IV. 

Lichas, Deianira, Chorus. 

Lich, My queen, what must I say to Hercules ? 
tell me, for you see me going. 

Dei. Quickly depart from Trachin, unless thou 
wilt have me repeat again my words. 

Lich. If you would inquire any thing of me, I 
am here. 

Dei. Wilt thou speak the truth without disguise ? 

Lich. Witness, great Jove, I will, as far as I know. 

Dei. Then who is this lady whom thou hast 
brought? 

Lich. One of Eubcea, but I know not of whom 
she descended. 

Dei. Look here, to whom do you think you are 
talking ? 

Lich. To what purpose do you thus examine me? 

Dei. Now be of courage^ speak what I ask you? 

Lich. Aye, since it is to queen Deianira, daughter 
of Oeneus, wife of Hercules, (unless my eyes de- 
ceive me,) and my mistress. 

Dei. That was what I would know of thee. Dost 
thou own I am thy mistress ? 

X 



306 THE TRACHINliE- 

LicJi. And lawfully. 

De«. What, therefore; what punishment do you 
think you deserve, if you are found unjust to me ? 

Lich, How unjust ? What is this you mean by 
your various questions ? 

Dei, Nothing ; but you mean very much. 

Licit. I go hence, I was a fool to hear thee thus long. 

Dei. You shall not before you tell me in short 
vy^hat you axe asked. 

Liicli. Speak what you would have, for you are 
not sparing of speech. 

Dei. Do you know that captive whom you have 
brought into the palace ? , 

Lich. I say 1 know. Why do you ask? 

Dei. Did not you say, that she, whom you pre- 
tended to be ignorant of, is lole, the daughter of 
Eurytus ? 

Lich. Unto whom ? Who will come and witness 
to you that he was by and heard me ? 

Dei. To many of the Trachinians ; and great 
crowds of people heard you. 

Lich, Aye ; did they say they heard me ? But 
it is not the same to speak one's opinion, and to tell 
w hat is certainly true. 

Dei. What opinion? Did you not sw^ear you 
brought her as the concubine of Hercules ? 

Lich. I said so ; by the gods, tell me, dear ma- 
dam, who this stranger is. 

Dei. He who was by, and heard you say that 
for the love of lole the whole city w as laid waste ; 
and that the Lydian woman did not destroy it, but 
apparently the love of her. 

Lich. Let this man begone ; ^ for to trifle with a 
sick patient is not the part of a wise physician. 

P For to trifle with a sick patient.] Lichas seems to speak this 
as a proverbial speech ; therefore, the Greek is »o<r»v]», a jealous 
or sick man, not willing to charge her flatly with jealousy, though 
he obscurely hints it. 



THE TRACHINI^. 307 

Dei. Do not, by Jove, who thunders on the high 
forest of Oeta, conceal this matter. For you will 
not speak to an ill woman, nor one who knoweth 
not the dispositions of men, that they are not always 
delighted with their own ; for whosoever strives 
against Love as a champion with his hands, thinks 
not wisely ; for he rules the gods as he pleaseth, 
and me, and why not another of my disposition. 
So that if I blame my husband for being possessed 
with this disease, I should be mad beyond all cure ; 
or this lady, who is not to be blamed for any fault, 
nor for any harm she ever did to me. It shall not 
be so ; and you, *if from him you have learnt to lie, 
you have had an ill master ; but, if you thus instruct 
yourself, while you would seem good you will shew 
yourself the contrary : therefore, tell me all the 
truth, for it is a base character for a free man to be 
reckoned a liar. If you think you may act con- 
cealed, it cannot be, for many to whom you have 
spoke it will discover to me the truth. If you fear, 
that is without reason, for not to know might grieve 
me ; but in knowing what should grieve me ? "^ Did 
not my husband, Hercules, marry many more 
wives ? and none of them ever received of me a re- 
proachful word. Nor shall this, though she pine 
never so much with love of him ; for, while I be- 
hold, I pity her whose beauty hath wrought her 
ruin, and she unwillingly hath wrought the de- 
struction and captivity of her country. But I talk 
to the winds ; you I command impose your frauds on 
others, but always speak the truth to me. 

Cho. Listen to her, for she speaks right, and it 
shall gain my favour ; and time, which brings all 
things to light, will prove you blameless. 
. Lich. Therefore, O loved mistress, since I per- 



^ Did not my hushand, Hercules^ mm^ry many more^ wivesi] 
viz. Meda, Auge, Megara, and others. 

X 2 



306 THE TRACHINIiE. 

ceive you mortal, and understand all mortal things, 
and not unwise, I will tell you all the truth, nor 
will I conceal ought. As he hath said, the violent 
love of lole captivated Hercules, and for her sake 
wretched Oechalia was destroyed by the sword. 
And this (for I should speak for him) did he neither 
bid me conceal, nor did he ever deny it. But I my- 
self, my queen, fearing lest I should disturb your 
mind, have done a fault, if you account it so. And 
now, since you know all, respect this woman, both 
for your own and husband's sake, and make good 
your words which you spoke concerning her : for 
he who with a victorious hand overcomes all other 
things, is quite overcome with love of her. 

Dei. So far I know my duty, and not to bring 
upon myself a voluntary distemper by making war 
against the gods ; but we will go into the palace, 
that you may there receive, and bear to him my 
commands ; and those gifts which we, in return for 
his, shall prepare, you shall likewise take ; for it is 
not just you should go away empty, who came 
hither with a great train. 



ACT II. SCENE V. 

Strophe. 

Chorus, 

Cho. Venus hath ever great power of victory, for 
to pass by the deeds of the gods ; and how she 
made her sport of the son of Saturn, I shall not 
mention, or Pluto, mighty king, or Neptune, the 
earth-moving god : but to have her their bride, some 
armed went to the field before her marriage, to 
bloody battles, and unseen for clouds of dust. 



the trachini/e. 309 

Antistrophe. 
One was a river's might in the shape of a high 
horned four-footed bull, Acheloiis, ' who proceeded 
from Oeniadae : another came from Thebes, sacred 
to Bacchus, bearing a crooked bow and arrows, and 
a spear, brandishing his sceptre; the son of Jove, 
who joining, went to battle for to many her. But 
Venus, the goddess of marriage, alone being present, 
niled the fray. 

Epodos. 

Then was there noise of hands and bows, and of 
bulls horns mixed together, ' a confused battle and 
deadly blows of meeting foreheads, and loud roaring 
on every side. But the fair tender maid sat looking 
on at the refulgent shore, expecting who should be 
her lord ; but, (I as a tender mother speak,) the mi- 
serable bride for whom they contended sat waiting, 
and presently was parted from her mother, as a calf 
forsaken of her dam. 



ACT III. SCENE I. 

Deianira, Chorus. 

Dei. While he, my friends, stood talking to those 
captive girls, as upon his departure; then I came 
out privately, partly to tell you what I have invent- 
ed, and that I may condole with you the misery 
which I bear for the maid, but I suppose not so now % 

' Who proceeded from Oeniadce.] Oeniadae was a city of Acar- 
nania, through which the river Acheloiis ran. 

* A confused battle.] Gr. <x[ji,(pi7rX£)iloi, y.-Ki^jiO(.y.i<;, The word 
xXt/xa| signifies ; 1. either the steps of a ladder or stairs ; or, 2. it 
signifies a kind of weapon, which the ancients made use of in 
fighting; or, 3. the fight itself. As the Scholiast witnesseth, 
KXt|iAajt£? c\ ocl e9fuvct^cia-ii(; 'rrot^oc to ochu x.a.) xoiru ccv7a<; ffi^(pea^on Iv rn 



310 THE TRACHINIjE. 

but a wife;) I have received, as a sailor receives a 
cargo, unpleasing store to me; and we must both 
receive him to our arms : these gifts the faithful Her- 
cules once called, for the long keeping his house, 
hath sent me. I know not how to be angry with 
him, infected with this disease. But to live with 
lole, what woman could endure it, and partake of 
the same bed with her? for I see the vigour of her 
age increases, mine decays; on such gay objects 
men love to feed their eyes, and not on us : but this 
I fear, lest Hercules should * forsake me, and fix his 
aflections on her. But, as I said, it is not the part 
of a prudent woman to be angry, but what kind of 
remedy I have for this disease I shall tell you. I 
have a former gift of an ancient Centaur hid in a 
brazen chest, which while I was young I received of 
Nessus, just expiring by his wounds; who carried 
men over the deep river Evenus for hire, using his 
hands instead of oars and sails ; and who carried 
me, (when I followed Hercules, my husband, and 
my father's family was there,) bearing me on his 
shoulders. When he was in the middle of the river, 
he touched me vdth his impious hands, and I cried 
out : anon, the son of Jove, turning about, with his 
hands sent forth a swift arrow, which rattled through 
his throat and breast. The dying Centaur said thus 
much: daughter of old Oeneus, since I have borne 
you the last over this river, you shall profit by this 
passage, as you pursue my counsel. If you take 
the blood flowing from my wound, where the aiTOws 
poisoned with the blood of the monster hydra, of 

* Forsake me, and fix his affections on hei',] I hope I have 
given here the true sense of the author, though I have not Hterally 
translated his words, which is impossible: for, though the two 
words icroa-iq and uv^^, differ in the Greek and Latin, there are not 
two different English words for them. The real difference is this, 
irrocrK comes from aTrrora?, and means one who is much absent from 
his wife. But, on the contrary, uvv)^ is one who is seldom absent. 



THE TRACHINIvE. 311 

Lerna, were fixed, it will be a reconciliation of the 
love of Hercules to you; so that he will never love 
any other woman whom he shall see, above you. 
When I understood this, O my friends, (for it was 
well preserved at home after his death,) therewith I 
dipped this coat, and did all which he commanded 
when alive, and this is done; would I had never 
either learned or known such vile enterprizes, which, 
while I undertake, I hate. But, if we can by love 
potions overcome this maid, and by these blandish- 
ments win Hercules, this business is well contrived ; 
if you think I do not work in vain, otherwise, I mil 
cease. 

Clio. If thou puttest any faith in that deed, thou 
seemest not to have acted inconsiderately. 

Dei. This is all the faith, it seems so to me, but 
I have not yet made trial. 

Cho. But you ought to know in fact, nor are you 
so sure of the effect, unless you make the trial. 

Dei. But we shall soon know, for I see him 
coming out, who will be here, only do you conceal 
this thing ; for, if you act an ill deed in darkness 
you will not fall into reproach. 



ACT HI. SCENE H. 
Lichas, Deianira, Chorus. 

Lick. Command what I must do, for we have 
long waited here. 

Dei. That was my care, Lichas, while you talked 
with those strange women within; it is that you 
should bear for me this fine woven garment, a gift 
to my husband, made by my hands ; and give it, 
desiring him, that no man else besides himself should 
put it on, nor to let the light of the sim behold it, 
nor the sacred altar, nor domestic fire, ere he ap- 



312 THE TRACHINI^. 

pearing" in public, shews it before the gods in the day 
of sacrificing; for so I vowed, if I should see or 
hear him safe returned, that with that coat arrayed I 
would present him to the gods, a new suppliant in a 
new garment. And bear to him this token, which 
he will easily know, when he casts his eyes upon the 
seal. But be gone, and first observe this rule, since 
you are a messenger, not to desire to go beyond your 
orders ; that then his favour, added to mine, may 
doubly descend upon you. 

Licit. If Mercury's office rightly I discharge, I 
will not fail in your business ; but I will bear this 
vessel, sealed as it is, to him, and faithfully add those 
words thou hast said. 

Dei. Go, therefore ; knowest thou how things are 
at home? 

Lich. I know, and will tell him they are well. 

Dei. Thou knowest, and hast seen how kindly I 
have received this strange damsel. 

Lich. So that my heart is amazed with joy. 

Dei. But what else wilt thou say ? for I fear lest 
thou shouldst mention my love for him, before I 
know that I am beloved by him. 

Antistrophica Strophe. 

Cho. O you who inhabit near the rocky warm 
baths by the sea, the rocks of Oeta, and about the 
" middle of the bay of Melis and shore of Diana, 
armed with a golden bow, where there is a Grecian 
council held, "" which takes its name from Thermo- 
pylae. 



" Middle of the hay of Melis.] The bay of Melis was near 
Trachinium, otherwise called the Magnesian bay, where, near 
Artemisiura, was a sea fight between the Grecians and the Persians, 
Near it was also a temple sacred to Diana: whence %^vcra^axaT» 

^ Which takes its name from Thermopylce.] This council was 
iifst instituted by Amphictyon, the son of Helenus, from whom 



THE TRACHINI^E. 313 

Antistrophe I. 

Let the pipe's shrill note upon this joyful day be 
heard, whose sound is most agreeable to the divine 
muses; for the son of Jove and Alcmena comes, 
bringing noble spoils, the rewards of all his virtue, 
home. 

Strophe II. 

He, whom absent from home whole twelve months 
we waited for, being on the rough sea, knowing no- 
thing of him. But his dear miserable wife, the 
wretched lady, witli ever-streaming tears afflicted 
her sad heart. But now raging Mars hath finished 
the term of his labours. 

Antistrophe II. 

Let him come, nor let his ship stand still ere he 
arrives at this city, leaving this island habitation, 
where he is said to sacrifice ; whence let him come 
hastening all the day, clad with this well-besmeared 
coat of reconciliation of his love to Deianira, as the 
Centaur directed her. 



ACT IV. SCENE I. 

Deianira, CJiorus. 

Dei. ^ O dear ladies, how I fear lest what I have 
done now be more than what I ought. 

the presidents of it were called Aniphictvones, and the council, 
Aniphictyoniiim Concilium: but Sophocles calls it here dyo^a.) 
iffvXccri^ec;, from tJvXxi, ports, or Qe^[ji.Q7rvXcn, warm ports ; because 
the waters of those straits were warm near which this council was 
held. Agathon says, that it was called OTtAata, from Pylades, the 
son of Strophus, who there was judged pure after his assisting in 
the murder of Clytemnestra; or, because that place is the gate or 
entrance into Greece. 

y O dear ladies,] Here Deianira too late begins to repent of 
that imprudent act which was the occasion of her own and hus- 
band's ruin; 



314 THE TRACHINItE. 

Clio. O queen, what is it? 

Dei, I know not, but I fear lest presently it 
should appear I have done some harm, in hope of 
doing good. 

Cho, Dost thou speak of those gifts thou gavest 
Hercules ? 

Dei. Yes : insomuch that I would I had never 
gone about to persuade any to meddle with a thing 
thev knew nothinfi: of. 

C/io. Tell me if it may be told : whence proceeds 
your fear ? 

Dei. Thus it is as I shall tell you, ladies, a won- 
derful and unlooked-for accident hath happened, for 
the wool with which 1 anointed the garment, taken 
from the white fleece of a sheep, hath vanished 
away, although consumed by nothing but itself, and 
dissolved into a liquid, it flows on the top of the 
stones. But that you may know how every thing 
was done, I shall farther enlarge my discourse. I 
omitted to do none of those things which the Centaur 
commanded me, when he languished with pain, his 
side pierced "" with an envenomed dart, but observed 
all as a written la \v preserved on a brazen table ; 
and, as it was commanded me that I should keep 
the medicine, and in a corner untouched by the 
warm rays of the sun, until a proper time should 
come when I must use this ointment, so have I 
done : and, when I thought it a proper time to put 
in practice this device, I anointed a coat at home 
privately in my chamber, and for that use pulled a 
fleece from a sheep of the flock ; and I have laid it 
aside folded up, untouched by the rays of the sun, 
in a hollow chest, and sent it a gift for Hercules, as 
you see. But, going in I saw an unutterable acci- 



* With an envenomed dart.] The Greek word is yA^x'^ ^^ 
y>^ux)^f which signifies a point of a dart, but by the figure the 
whole is comprehended in the part. 



THE TRACHINIiE. 315 

dent, which no man could ever think; for I happen- 
ed to throw away some part of the wool which I had 
stained, in a place where the sun's rays were fiercest; 
but, as soon as it grew warm it flowed about, but 
how none could discern, and dries upon the ground ; 
which to behold was like saw-dust when wood is 
sawed, as it lay on the ground. From the ground 
where it lay, there boiled up frothy bubbles, as from 
rich wine in autumn poured on the ground, from 
Bacchus's vine ; so that I know not what to think, 
a wretch, for I see I have done a horrid act. For 
why should the dying Centaur do me an act of kind- 
ness, for whom he died ? it cannot be. But desiring 
to kill him who shot him, he flattered me, and this 
too late I have learnt when that knowledge is of no 
use. And I alone, a wretch, unless my thoughts 
deceive me, shall be his murderess. For I remem- 
ber how with his dart he wounded Chiron, and 
whatsoever animals it hits it kills: and why should 
not the black poison, mingled with the blood which 
issued from Nessus's wound, kill Hercules himself? 
It seems to me but justice, and I am resolved, if any 
unexpected misfortune befals him, with the same 
violence I will die likewise : for, to live in infamy is 
intolerable to me, whose care w as ever to be good. 

Cho. It is necessary to tremble at cruel deeds, 
but not to judge beforehand what hope we may have 
from the event. 

Dei. In wicked counsels there is no hope to give 
any encouragement. 

Cho. But against those who unwillingly have 
offended, anger is mild ; so should it be toward you. 

JDei. One who is partner in evil, cannot say so, 
but he to whom no domestic evil ever happened. 

Cho. It is proper for you, madam, to continue 
silent for a while, unless you would declare to your 
son all the story, for he is here, who went to seek 
his father. 



316 THE TRACHINI^. 

ACT IV. SCENE II. 

Hyllus, Deianira, Chorus. 

Hyl. O mother, how could I wish one of these 
three things were true, that you were no more, or 
could be safely called the mother of some other son, 
or were endowed with a more honest mind. 

Dei. What have I done, my son, thus to deserve 
thy hate? 

Hyl. Know, that thou this day hast slain thy 
husband and my father. 

Del. Ah, me! my son, what news is this thou 
bringest? 

Hyl, Of a deed that is impossible to be undone ; 
for what is done, who can undo ? 

Dei, What sayest thou, my son? from whom 
didst thou hear that I should commit such a horrid 
act? 

Hyl. I myself with these eyes beheld my father's 
sad calamity, and heard it from his mouth. 

Dei. Where did you meet with him, that you 
know this ? 

Hyl. If you must know, then I must tell you all : 
when he departed, after destroying the famous city 
of Eurytus, bringing with him the spoils and trophies 
of victory, near the shore of Euboea there is a pro- 
montory, called Cenoeum, where he built up altars 
to his father Jove, and consecrated a green wood ; 
where I with pleasure first beheld him. When he 
was about to offer his usual sacrifice, a herald came 
from home, Lichas, his domestic, bearing thy gift, 
that fatal garment, which he putting on as you be- 
fore had commanded, slew whole twelve bulls, the 
first fruits of the spoils ; then after that brought all 
his hundred together, a mingled flock. At first, the 
wretched man with a merry mind rejoiced in his 
finery and his garment, and prayed for you; but, 



THE TRACHINIiE. 317 

when the flame of the sacred victhns and gross trees 
was kindled, then sweat dropped from his body, and 
the coat stuck to his sides and all his parts, as 
though it were glued on by an artificer. Then suc- 
ceeded a convulsive tearing of his bones, then the 
poison of the bloody cruel viper hydra fed upon 
him ; then did he call unhappy Lichas, who was not 
guilty of your crime, and asked him by whose vile 
fiauds he had brought this infected garment. The 
wretch, ignorant of all, said it was your gift alone, 
aaid sent by you. As soon as Hercules heard that, 
tortured with pain, for he was seized with tearing of 
his vital members, taking hold of his foot at the 
place where it bends, he threw him against a rock 
standing out of the sea : then was his white brains, 
together with his blood, scattered through his hair ; 
his head being split. Then with a lamentable voice 
the people cried out, because Hercules was tortured 
with a disease, and Lichas slain; but none dare to 
oppose him. Now, did he roll along the plain; now 
rising, roars and bawls out, so that the rocks on 
every side, and ^ Locris mountain-tops and the pro- 
montories of Euboea echoed his voice back; but, 
when his strength was gone, then the miserable man 
throwing himself against the ground, uttered many 
dreadful speeches, cursing your unhappy bed, and 
his nuptials with the daughter of Oeneus ; whom he 
chose the destruction of his life. Then raising his 
distorted eyes from his inclosing smoke, he saw me 
weeping amidst the great army, and seeing me, he 
calls me, O my son, said he, avoid me not in my 
calamity, not although you should die with me ; but 
bear me hence, and place me there, where no man 
shall behold me. If thou hast any compassion, 

* Locris mountain-tops.] Locris is a country adjoining to 
Phocis, of which Ajax Oileus, was king, according to Homer: 

AoK^uv a r)yifA.6viViv OV^iJo? TOt^vq A'iue;. 



318 T^HE TRACHINIiE. 

speedily bear me out of this country, lest I die here. 
When he had thus spoken, we placed him in a ship, 
and with much labour brought him roaring with 
convulsive pains, and presently you will see him, 
either aUve or newly dead. Mother, all this you 
have contrived against my father, for which I pray, 
if it be just, may great justice and his avenging fury 
punisli thee; but it is just, for thou hast made it so, 
who hast slain the best of men that ever your eyes 
beheld. 

Cho. Why dost thou silently go hence? Know 
you not that this silence speaks you guilty of the 
charge ? [Exit Deianira. 

Hyl. Let her go, and may the wind be fair for 
her departure, that I may never see her more. ^ Why 
should she boast a mother's name, who hath done 
nothing worthy of a mother? but let her go and 
prosper, and the same delight as she gave my father, 
may she enjoy. [Exit Hylhis. 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 

Antistrophica Strophe I. 

Chorus. 

Cho. ^You see, maidens, how soon the divine 
oracle, which was delivered in Dodona's grove, is 
come to pass on us, by which it was decreed, that 
when the twelfth year was perfected, the son of Jove 
should find rest from toils. All this is inevitably 
now come to pass ; for, how should he, who beholds 
no more the light, being dead, endure more this toil- 
some bondage ? 

Antistrophe. 

For, if love necessitated Deianira deceitfully to 

^ You see, maidens, how soon.'\ Here the Chorus reason among 
themselves, concerning the oracle delivered about Hercules, at 
Dodona. 



THE TRACHINI^. 319 

anoint a coat for Hercules with the poisonous gore 
of the Centaur, into whose side the arrow stuck, 
poisoned by death, and the spotted dragon, Hydra : 
how should he even see another sun, who is consu- 
med with the poison of the terrible monster Hydra, 
and the deceitful burning stings of Nessus torment- 
ing him likewise? Wherefore, Deianira seeing a gTeat 
and speedy evil threatening her house from this new 
marriage, partly being ignorant, and partly per- 
suaded by the voice of another, with pernicious arts 
to gain her husband's love. Surely she alone la- 
ments, surely she pours forth floods of tears, for the 
approaching fate of Hercules declares that another 
private evil will shortly be committed by her. 

Antistrophe n. 

Cho. A fountain of tears breaks forth; I have 
caught the infection. Alas ! this is such an afliiction 
as never happened to glorious Hercules, even from 
his enemies, and worthy our pity. O fatal dart with 
which he fought, and too soon brought a bride from 
lofty Oechalia, by the right of war. Yet Venus, 
although silent, was an assister, and evidently the 
cause of all. 

Cho. I am deceived, or I hear a general cry 
spread through the palace. What shall I say! 
somebody cries with no low voice within, but with 
a mournful howl. What sudden change hath hap- 
pened in the palace? but observe this ancient woman, 
who comes to tell some news, knitting her brows 
beyond her wonted custom. 



ACT V. SCENE I. 

Nurse, Chorus. 

Nur. O, daughter, how was that gift »ent to Her- 
cules, the beginning of mighty evils ? 



320 THE TRACHINI.E. 

Cho. What new tale is this, old woman, which 
thou tellest us ? 

Nur. ' Deianira is gone the last of all her journeys, 
with feet unmoved. 

Cho. What is she dead ? 

Nur. Thou hast heard all. 

Cho. Is the miserable lady dead ? 

Nur. Thou hearest it again. 

Cho. Miserable, undone, wretch! But in what 
manner did she die ? 

Nur. In a most lamentable manner. 

Cho. Tell me by what death she expired ? 

Nur. She slew herself. 

Cho. What rage, or what disease drove her to 
that desperate act ? 

Nur. The point of a fatal sword slew her. 

Cho. How could she contrive thus to add one 
death to another? 

Nur. By the wound of a lamentable sword. 

Cho. And didst thou, simple woman, see this 
mischief done? 

Nur. I did, for I stood by. 

Cho. Who was it ? How ? Tell me. 

Nur, She acted it on herself with her own hand. 

Cho. What sayest thou ? 

Nur, What is true. 

Cho, Alas ! this bride, who is lately come, hath 
brought forth a great fury for this house. 

*^ Deianira is gone the last of all her journeys.^ Because death 
is a journey which every one must take once, and no more. Hor. 
lib. car. i. Od. 28. 

Et calcanda semel via lethi. 

In the last act is introduced a woman who attended upon 
Deianira, giving the Chorus an account of her death, and being un- 
willing at first to strike them with too much grief, says she is gone. 
Which word as it bears a two-fold sense, may be understood either 
of any one's moving to a place, or the soul's departing out of the 
body, the Chorus asks again, ^>j 'sroh' w? ^uvnacc 1 Is she dead ? 



THE TRACHINIiE. 321 

iVi/r. Ah, too much, but chiefly if thou hadst 
been by, and hadst seen what she did, sadly thou 
would st have mourned. 

Cho. And could any female hand bear to do this ? 

Nur. Most cruel indeed it was ; and when you 
hear you shall attest the truth of what I say. 
When she alone went into the palace, and saw her 
son in the hall, ^ making* the funeral-bed, again to 
meet his father, she hid herself where none should 
see her ; and, falling down before the altars, cried 
out, that she was now forsaken ; and wept as often as 
she touched any of those instruments which the 
miserable woman used before. And, turning her- 
self every way about the house, if she saw any 
favourite of her family ; beholding him, the wretched 
woman wept, exclaiming against her sad fortune, 
crying that hereafter slie must be ever destitute of 
comfort and child-bearing. But, after she ceased 
from weeping, presently I saw her falling upon 
Hercules's bed. I, hiding myself, watched her with 
an undiscerned eye ; then did I see her on the 
marriage-bed of Hercules, strewing the clothes ; and 
having done this, she leaped upon it, sat in the 
middle of the bed; and, pouring forth warm floods 
of tears, she said, O bed, and my nuptials, fare- 
well for ever ! for never hereafter shall you receive 
me lying on these clothes. Having thus spoke, with 
a quick hand she loosed her garments, where a gold 
button covered her breast, uncovered her whole 
side, and her left arm. Then I ran as fast as I 
could, and told her son what she was meditating ; 
and whilst we are running here and there, we see 
her wounded through the heart, with a two-edged 
sword. Her son then wept, beholding this, for he 
understood, unhappy youth, that through rage she 
had done this ; having too late learnt of those about 

^ Making the funeral-be(L] Gr. ^sy.v.a. 



322 THE TRACHINIvE. 

the house, that, deceived by the Centaur, unwilHng- 
ly she had committed this crime. Then the misera- 
ble youth, dissolved in tears, prostrate embraced 
her ; and, his side joined vnth hers, lay lamenting 
much that, without cause, he had accused her of a 
crime ; lamenting, likewise, that at once he is de- 
prived of both father and mother. This is our 
present case ; so that if any reckon upon two or 
more future days he is a fool : nor should we re- 
gard what accident to-morrow will produce, but 
consider how we may provide for our safety the 
present day. 



ACT V. SCENE II. 

Chorus. 

Cho. Which misfortune shall I now lament? Which 
of these fatal deeds ? Alas ! it is hard for me, a 
wretch, to judge; one is before our eyes, the other 
we expect. To have, and certainly to expect, is 
equal. 

Strophe. 

1 wish some favourable wind would blow from 
home, to bear me from this palace, lest I die with 
fear, seeing the brave son of Jove alone : for they 
say that this great miracle draws near the palace, 
overwhelmed with griefs incurable. 

Antistrophe. 

He is near, and not far off; as the shrill nightin- 
gale they weep. Here is a company of strangers 
coming, and every one helps to bear him as a friend, 
and, without noise, walking with silent tread. What 
can I judge ? That he is asleep or dead ? 



THE TRACHINIyE. 323 

ACT V. SCENE III. 

Enter Hercules, home in a chair, followed hy a com- 
pany weeping for him, which Hyllus meets. 

Hyl. Woe is me, a wretch ! Father, father, woe 
is me ! What shall I do ? What com'se shall I take? 
Woe is me ! 

Old Man. Be silent, child, nor move the fierce 
pains of thy raging father, for he lies asleep, look- 
ing do\Mivvard : but forbear to bite thy lips. 

Hyl. What sayest thou, old man, is he alive ? 

Old 3Ian. Raise him not from his sleep, nor stir 
him, lest thou likewise raise his furious raging dis- 
temper. 

Hyl. O, but my sad heart doth cause me endless 
woe ! 

Her. O, Jove, whither shall I go ? Among whom 
do I lie, afflicted with never-ceasing pains ? Woe 
is me, a wretch! Now again the infection rages, 
alas ! ^Hercules aivakes. 

Old Man. Did you not know that it was better to 
be silent, and not to chase soft slumbers from his 
head and eyebrows? [To Hyllus. 

Hyl. How could I rest, seeing this sad evil ? 

Her. O Censean hill, where sacred altars are 
placed, what thanks hast thou returned me now ? 
And for how great sacrifices ! O, Jove ! what dis- 
grace hast thou brought on me ? I would I had 
never seen with my eyes such an implacable rage of 
madness. What enchanter or experienced physician 
can appease it, except Jove alone? O that I could 
see that miracle, though never so far, approaching. 
Let me lie still, an unhappy man as I am, let me 
lie still. Where dost thou touch me ? Thou killest 
me! Where wouldst thou thrust me? Thou hast 
raised that, which otherwise had slept. Mv disease 

Y 2' 



324 THE TRACHINI^. 

is disturbed, and again rages. Where are you, the 
most unjust of all the Grecians, whose woods and 
seas I, who so often have scoured, thus miserably 
perish, and none of you will turn against me fire, 
or friendly sword, and cut off my head, to rid me 
of this hated life. 

Old Man. O thou, who art son of this man, that 
is too great a task for my strength, but do thou 
assist ; thou hast a nimbler eye to assist bim than 
me. 

Hyl. I touch him, but neither at home nor abroad 
can I find a remedy for this life-consuming disease. 

Her, O son, son, where art thou? Hold me here, 
hold me here, and raise me up. O my sad fortune, 
it comes on me again, it comes on me, the terrible 
fierce disease which destroys me. O Pallas, it 
again torments me, pity your father, draw yovir 
sword, which none ^vill blame, and stab me to the 
heart, and heal this pain which your impious mother 
hath inflicted on me ; whom O that I could see 
lying in the same torment which she hath given me. 
Brother of Jove, dear Pluto, lay me asleep ; and 
w ith a speedy death destroy an unhappy man. 

Cho. O my friends, I tremble to hear of the sad 
calamities in which so great a man as the king is 
overwhelmed. 

Her. Many gi>eat and unutterable toils my body 
hath endured, and many exploits I have with my 
hands performed, yet neither Juno nor Eurystheus 
ever imposed on me what the deceitful daughter of 
Oeneus hath. For she hath bound my shoulders 
with a net, spun by the furies, by which I die, for it, 
sticking to my sides, feeds on my flesh, sucks up 
my spirits, and drinks my corrupted blood; and 
my whole body is consumed and bound in with this 
abominable garment. This, neither the hostile sword, 
nor the earth-born host of giants, nor the Centaur's 
power, nor Grecian, nor barbarian, nor all the coun- 



THE TRACHINIiE. 325^ 

tries I cleared of monsters, ever before effectecL 
But ^ a weak woman, of no man-like disposition, 
slew me without a sword. O, my son, be ready to 
shew thyself truly my son, nor honour more thy 
mother's name. Bring' her out with your ovvn hand, 
and deliver her to me, that I may know whether you 
more lament my suffering body than you will her 
injurious form, when you shall see it justly punished 
by me. Go my son, behold, pity me who am pitied 
by many thus weeping as a virgin ; and that no man 
that ever lives can say he saw me do before, for 
without murmuring I ever bore my evils : but now 
from such a one I am all turned woman, and now 
come near and stand by thy father, and behold what 
calamities I endure, and all caused by this garment. 
Look all of you and behold my miserable body; 
behold a miserable man how I suffer. Now the 
convulsions rage, they pierce me asunder ; nor doth 
the consuming disease leave me free in any part. O 
infernal king receive me; O thunderbolt of Jove, 
strike me, O strike me down with thunder. Now 
the convulsions again devour me ; now they revive 
and rage furiously. O my hands, back, breast, and 
arms, it is you who once slew the immense, inacces- 
sible lion of Nemaea, the destroyer of the cattle, and 
the monster-hydra of Lerna: it is you who slew the 
pernicious mighty army of Centaurs, who partook 
the natures both of men and horses, and the boai: 



^ A weak woman, of no, Sfc] Gr. yvi\) ^e, ^^T^vq sa-cc. Mr. 
Johnson, in his notes upon this passage says, that the word ywvi in 
general signifies a woman of what disposition soever ; but ^rjXvq, in 
a stricter sense, means a timorous woman, weak in body and mind. 
This he confirms by v. 1083. 

From such a brave man I am quite turned woman, or am emascu- 
lated. 



326 THE TRACHINIiE. 

of Erymanthus, and brought from hell ^the three- 
headed dog, that resistless monster begotten of the 
viper. It is yon who slew the dragon, keeper of the 
golden apple in the borders of Libya, and many 
other toils I have endured ; nor was ever any power 
victorious over me, but now am I torn and disjoint- 
ed, and by a secret pestilence am consumed: I, 
who am son of the best of mothers, and of celestial 
Jove. But be well-assured of this, that though I 
perish and become very nothing, she who is the 
author of these vile deeds shall feel the severity of 
my hand. Let her come only, and she shall be 
taught by experience to declare to all, that alive or 
dead I will punish the wicked. 

Cho. O wretched Greece, in what grief shall I 
see you overwhelmed, if you are deprived of this 
man? 

Hyl. Father, since you permit me to speak, keep 
silence and hear me, though you are in pain, for I 
will ask that which it is but just I should obtain. 
Listen to me, nor let your anger thus prevail, for you 
know not what just reason you have to rejoice, nor 
why you grieve thus vainly. 

Her, Say what thou wilt, then cease ; for I being 
grieved with this disease, understand not perplexed 
discourses. 

Hyl. I am going to speak concerning my mother, 
and to shew how her case is, and wherein she un- 
willingly offended. 

Her. Villain, dost thou again mention thy mur- 
derous mother that I should hear thee? 

Hyl. For so the case is, that it were unfit for me 
to be silent. 

Her. No ; because of her crime against me com- 
mitted. 



^ The three-headed dog.] i. e. Cerberus. See our notes upon 
Oedipus Coloneus, Act V. note ^. 



THE TRACHINI7E. 327 

Hyl, But presently you will not say she h^th 
offended. 

Her. Speak, but beware lest you shew yourself 
an unnatural son. 

Hyl. Then I will speak. My mother is just now 
dead. 

Her. By whom? thou speakest of monstrous evils. 

Hyl. By her own hand, and none else. 

Her. Woe is me, would she had died by mine. 

Hyl. You would change your mind, did you 
know all. 

Her. Thou hast now begun to say somewhat 
more wonderful ; but speak as thou knowest. 

Hyl. She did every thing amiss, while conscious 
of no ill. 

Her. Conscious of no ill, when she hath slain thy 
father? 

Hyl. Thinking to reconcile your love to herself 
by a philtre she erred, when she peiceived your 
other marriage. 

Her. Who was so great a sorcerer among the 
Trachinians ? 

Hyl. Nessus, the Centaur, once persuaded her to 
secure your love by that philtre. 

Her. ^ Alas, I am undone, nor shall hereafter be- 
hold the light. Woe is me! I see my sad calamities. 
Go, my son, thou hast no more a father, call hither 
all your brothers, call wretched Alcmena, vainly 
called wife of Jove, to hear the final answer of the 
oracle concerning me, which I have learned. 

Hyl. She is not here, but is gone to Tirynthia, 
near the shore, to dwell. Some of her sons she hath 
taken and keeps with her, others inhabit the city of 
Thebes; but as many of us as are here are ready to 
hear and to assist thee. 



s AlaSy lam undone.] He breaks out into this exclamation, re- 
membering the oracle delivered concerning him at Dodona. 



328 THE TRACHINIjE. 

Her. TJierefore hear this : now is it time for thee 
to shew of what father thou art born, since thou art 
mine. It was formerly told me, by my father, that 
I should die by none living, but one who is dead, 
and an inhabiter among the infernal shades : there- 
fore this Centaur, as the divine oracle foretold, 
though dead, hath slain me. But now will I tell 
you new prophecies like those old ones which I re- 
ceived of my father's ^prophesying oak, and wrote 
down ' when I went into the forest of the mountain- 
ous Selli, who lie on the ground. These answered 



^ Prophesying oak.^ Gr. 'woXufxcjo-a-a ^^v6^. The oaks and 
beeches of this grove were, according to fiction, endowed with 
human voice and a prophetical spirit, for which reason they were 
called 'w^orriyo^oi, and jjiocvlixccl, and -ro-oAt^yAwacroi ^^viq, i.e. sj)eaking or 
prophesying oaks. This fiction seems to be grounded upon a 
practice of the prophets, of placing themselves when they gave 
answers in one of the trees; for Sophocles seems here to allow this 
faculty only to one of them, and so the oracle was thought to be 
uttered by the oak, which was only pronounced out of its hollow 
stock, or from among its branches. 

^ When Iivent into the forest of the mountainous Selli, who lie on 
the grou?id.] Gr. x^iJLony.oiruv ^e>\Xu)y. Others write tlteir names 
Helli without a-. They were those persons who delivered the ora- 
cles at Dodona's grove. Homer gives them the epithets of dvi-jflo- 
Tcohq and p^a/xatsDvat, whence Strabo concludes they were barba- 
rous and uncivilized. Eustathius tells us they were called ^a/xa*- 
ivvcci, (and consequently x°^iA.a,iKoWof,,) because they slept upon the 
ground in skins, and in that posture expected prophetical dreams 
from Jupiter. Others will have them so called, because they did 
not lie on beds, but on the bare ground; and that they were call- 
ed dviTrlorrohq, because they never went out of the temple, and, 
therefore had no occasion to wash their feet. Others will have 
those names to be understood only in a figurative sense, thus: 
their bodies, indeed, did lie on the ground, but their minds, by the 
assistance of prophetical philosophy, soared above these lower re- 
gions. There are other reasons given for these titles by the old 
Scholiast on Homer, II. -zat. p. 1074. Edit. Basil. Lastly, others 
thus, that all the oracles were delivered by women ; and, that the 
Selli were only inhabitants of the neighbouring country, who were 
employed in the temple, and published the oracles to other men 
which they received of the prophetesses. 



THE TRACHINIiE. 329 

me, that after I lived to this present time, there 
would be an end of my toils; and then I thought I 
should hve happy: but that was nothing else but I 
must die, for the dead have no trouble. Now, since 
these things are plainly come to pass, my son, you 
ought to be my assistant, nor wait until my anger 
rises, but do what is your duty, since it is a good 
law, that you should obey your father. 

Hyl. O father, I fear to contend against that law ; 
in every thing therefore I will obey thee. 

Her. Then first lend me thy right hand. 

Hyl. For what end dost thou so earnestly desire 
that pledge of faith? 

Her. Wilt thou not give it me, nor come near? 

Hyl. Here I give it, nor shall it be denied thee. 

Her. Swear now by Jove, my father. 

Hyl. What shall I swear to do, and I will do it? 

Her. That you will do what I shall say. 

Hyl. I swear, therefore, by Jove, the punisher of 
perjury. 

Her. But, if you should be false, implore ven- 
geance against yourself. 

Hyl. I shall not suffer vengeance, but will do it, 
yet I implore. 

Her. Knowest thou the top of the high mountain 
Oeta, sacred to Jove? 

Hyl. I know, for there I often sacrificed. 

Her. Then must thou now with thine own hands, 
with some of thy choice fiiends, bear my body 
there ; then cutting down much wood, both of the 
deep rooted oak, and likewise the male wild olive- 
tree, raise a funeral pile, and Jay my body on ; then 
taking a bright burning torch of pitch, set it on fire : 
let no lamentation be heard, nor shed one tear ; but, 
without both, if truly thou art my son, do this ; but, 
if not, I will continue for ever to curse thee among 
the dead. 



330 THE TRACHINIiE. 

HyL Woe is me, father, what hast thou said? 
What hast thou bid me do? 

Her. What thou must do, otherwise thou art bom 
of another father, thou shalt not be called my son. 

Hyl. Ah, me ! again dost thou bid me be a parri- 
cide and thy murderer? 

Her. Not I, but my only physician and healer of 
those evils which I suffer. 

Hyl. But how by burning your body shall I heal 
it? 

Her. If you abhor that office, do the rest. 

Hyl. I will not refuse the bearing of the wood. 

Her. Meanest thou to get ready the pile? 

Hyl. As far as I am able, so I touch not your 
body with my hands to burn it ; every thing else I 
will do ; you shall not want my assistance. 

Her. This will be enough, add this small kind- 
ness to other great ones thou hast done me. 

Hyl. Though it be great, yet it shall be done. 

Her^ Knowest thou the virgin daughter of Eury tus . 

Hyl. Thou meanest lole, as I suppose. 

Her. Thou art right; this I desire of thee, my 
son, when I am dead, if thou vnlt act piously, re- 
membering the oath by which thou art bound to me, 
make her thy wife : do not oppose thy father, nor 
let any other man beside you take her who lay by 
my side, but take her to thy own bed. Obey me, 
for since thou hast obeyed me in great matters, if 
thou disobeyest me in small, thou forfeitest all thy 
former thanks thereby. 

Hyl. Ah, me ! it is base to be angry with a sick 
man, but who can bear to see one thus disposed ? 

Her. Sayest thou so, that thou wilt do nought 
which I command thee? 

Hyl. Who could endure her, who alone was the 
cause of my mother's death, and of your disease? 
Who, I say, could endure this, but one who is perse- 



THE TRACHINI^. 331 

cuted by the furies ? it is better for me to die than 
to cohabit with my worst of foes. 

Her. This man, I think, respects not his dying 
father, but the curse of the gods w aits on thee for 
disobeying thy father's commands. 

Hyl. Ah, me! thou seemest to talk as thy dis- 
temper dictates. 

Her. Dost thou again awake my ceasing pains? 

Hyl. Ah, me! how many doubts distract my 
soul. 

Her. Dost thou not think it is just to obey thy 
father? 

Hyl. But, father, shall I learn to be impious ? 

Her. It is no impiety to gratify my mind. 

Hyl. But dost thou command things altogether 
just? 

Her. I do, I call the gods as my witnesses. 

Hyl. Therefore I will do them, nor will I dis- 
obey, and protest before the gods that this is yom^ 
work ; for I can never seem wicked, w hile I obey 
thee, my father. 

Her. Thou hast w ell concluded, and add this 
speedy favour to thy former, before my fury and 
convulsions tear me; place me upon the pile, go 
hasten and bear me thither : this is my final rest from 
son'ows. 

Hyl. Nothing hinders but I may do this, since 
thou commandest and forces t me. 

Her. Go now before my disease is again awaked. 
O hard heart! cease thy clamour as though shut up 
with steel : for even a most ungrateful thing is ac- 
ceptable. [They hear Hercules to the pile. 

Hyl. Support him, my companions, and herein 
give me pardon, knowing in these present calamities, 
how I am unpitied of the gods ; who, having begot 
me and been called my fathers, overlook these suf- 
ferings. What is to come none can foresee, the 



332 THE TRACHINIiE. 

present misfortunes are lamentable, to others sad, 
but most intolerable to him who bears the loss. 

Cho. Thou, maid, go not from home, [the Chorus 
to each other,'] who hast seen the funerals of great 
men, and all the calamities which of late we have 
borae : and there is none of them which Jove was 
not the cause of. 



THE 

TRAGEDY 



OF 



PHILOCTETES 



Bvamati^ Wevmnae. 



Ulysses. 

NeoptolemuSw 

Philoctetes. 

A Merchant. 

Chorus of old Men who accompanied Neoptolemus 

in his ship. 
Hercules. 

SCENE — The Island of Lemnos, near the Cave of Philoctetes ; 
whei'e are many craggy rocks, precipices^ and promontories, 
fiear the sea. 



PHILOCTETES 



The Ai&GVMENT^^Philoctetes having discovered the altar of 
HerculeSy in the island Chrysa^ was stung in the foot hy a ser- 
pent which guarded it, when he would approach too near it. 
This biting caused a desperate ulcer to arise in his foot, for the 
anguish of which he could rest neither day nor night, but dis- 
turbed the Grecian army with his perpetual cries. Wherefore he 
was, by Ulysses and Diomedes, exposed on the island of Lemnos^ 
where he continued ten years, forlorn and comfortless. When the 
ten years were near expired, one Helenus was taken from Troy by 
the fraud of Ulysses, who declared to the Grecians, that (accord- 
ing to the prophecy of Calchas) it was impossible that Tr^oy should 
be taken without the arrows of Hercules, which were in the pos- 
session of Philoctetes, and the assistance of Neoptolemus, son of 
Achilles. Neoptolemus and Ulysses went, therefore, to Lemnos 
to bring him froin thence back to the camp at Troy. But when 
neither the frauds of the latter nor the persuasions of the former 
could prevail upon him to return, Hercules is supposed to descend 
from heaven, and command him to go with them, who tells him 
the two advantages he would gain thereby : namely, the reputa- 
tion of conqueror of Troy, and to be healed of his old sore. 
Whereupon, after bidding adieu to his old place of habitation, he 
goes with them. 

We have in the person of Philoctetes a representation of the 
miseries of man ; and the moral deducible is, that we ought to 
bear with patience our lighter afflictions, when we Me a miserable 
prince, though guilty of no crime, suffer the worst of ills. 



ACT I. SCENE I. 

Neoptolemus, Ulysses. 

Ulys. O, Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, the 
bravest Grecian that ever fought at Troy, * this is 
the shore of sea-encompassed Lemnos, by men un- 
trodden and uninhabited : w^here, by the order of 
the Grecian commanders, I exposed Philoctetes, 
the Melian, son of Paean. The reason why they 
gave me that command was this : his feet were 
wasted away by a consuming sore, this made him 
cry and bawl, and with dire imprecations so to fill 
the camp perpetually, that we could neither pour 
out libations nor offer sacrifices in quietness for him. 
But why should I at present talk of that ? This 
juncture admits of no tedious discourses, lest he 
should learn that I am come, and so I ruin the 
whole plot by which I think to take him. I have 
another task demands thy aid : first, look if 
thou canst find the rock I thus describe. It hath 
two doors, which in the cold receive the rays both 
of the rising and the setting sun ; and in the summer 
the gentle gale which blows in at the cave, on both 
sides open, provokes soft sleep. A little below, on 
the left hand, you may see a fountain-stream, if it 
be there still. Go, and silently signify to me whether 

* This is the shore.] The prologue of this tragedy is spoken 
by Ulysses, as in Euripides, only herein they differ, that, as 
Sophocles joins Neoptolemus with him, Euripides lays all on 
Ulysses. 

The prologue of the ancient tragedy is that part of it which 
precedes the entrance of the Chorus, and makes a true part of 
the tragedy. Not as it is in our modern tragedies, where the pro- 
logue is only to explain to the audience what concerns the subject 
of the poem, which is, therefore, entire without '\^. 



336 PHILOCTETES. 

he continues in the same place, or if he hath moved 
his quarters, that you may hear what I have else to 
say. Thus we'll assist each other. 

Neop. The task, Ulysses, which you impose is 
not hard ; for methinks I see the den you mentioned. 

Uli/s. Above or below ? For I understand you 
not. 

Neop. Above, nor is there track of foot. 

Ulj/s. But see if he be not laid asleep. 

Neop. I see a habitation forsaken of its dwellers. 

UIt/s. Nor is there within any domestic food ? 

Neop. Bruised leaves, as if some lay there. 

Uli/s. Are other places empty ? Is there nothing, 
else? 

Neop. A wooden pot, the work of some bad 
workman, and a fire-pot likewise. 

Uli/s. You mention all his treasure. 

Neop. Alas ! And here are rags dried, full of 
filth and matter. 

Uli/s. Certainly the man inhabits "here, nor is he 
far off; for how should a man distempered in his 
feet, with an old sore, go far ? He is gone to the 
way from the pastures, or hath found oiit some 
wholesome herb ; send this servant to spy, lest he 
should come upon me privately, for he would rather 
take me than all the Grecians. 

Neop. He is gone and will watch his way. [Ser- 
vant sent out.] But thou, if thou wouldst say any 
thing, now say it. 

UI2/S. In this business thou art come about, thou 
must not only be stout in body, but in mind ; if thou 
hearest any strange thing w^hich thou never didst 
hear before, be by to assist me. 

Neop. What, therefore, dost thou command ? 

Uli/s. You must deceive Philoctetes with words 
when he shall ask you who and whence you are. 
You must say you are the son of Achilles, that 
must not be concealed : feign that you are sailing 



PHILOCTETES. 337 

home, leaving the Grecian fleet, hating them with 
most bitter hatred ; who, after they had beseeched 
you, with many entreaties, to come from home, 
when they could not by other means take Troy, 
gave not the armour of Achilles to you, when you 
came and justly demanded them ; but gave them to 
Ulysses, saying the worst of ill you can imagine 
against me ; you will not thereby grieve me, but if 
you do it not you will grieve all the Grecians ; for, 
unless his darts are taken, it will be impossible to 
take Troy. Understand, therefore, how you may 
easily have free conversation with him, but I cannot. 
Thou hast sailed hither bound by oath to none, nor 
through necessity ; nor in the beginning of the war 
wast thou a companion. But nought of this can I 
deny, so that if he, possessing the darts, shall per- 
ceive me, I perish, and shall hkewise kill you. 
This, therefore, must be contrived, to steal those 
arms you cannot overcome. I know that you are 
not of such a disposition to invent and say all your- 
self, yet were it a pleasant thing to obtain the vic- 
tory. Be bold, at another time we will be just; 
but now give yourself up to me, and for a short 
time be impudent, and afterwards the most religious 
of all men. 

Neop. O son of Laertes, those things I hear with 
grief I hate to act. ^ I can do nothing by base arts, 
nor could he who begat me ; but I am prepared to 
compel him by force, and not by fraud : for with 
one foot he will never overcome us by force, being 
so many. Since I am sent as an assister, I would 
not be called a traitor ; for I had rather miscarry in 

^ I can do nothing hy base.'] Sophocles, in this piece, gives 
N-eoptolemus manners something like those of his father ; for ha 
supposeth him a person brave, and hating fraudulent contrivances ; 
one who would not do a base thing, though he should gain by it : 
for Ifc puts in his mouth the words of Achilles, 

Z 



338 PHILOCTETES. 

my enterprize while I do well than basely to over- 
come. 

Ulys. Thou son of a noble father, when I was a 
youth myself, I had a slow tongue, but a courageous 
hand ; but now, by experience, I find, it is the 
tongue, not the hands, which governs all things. 

Neop. What else dost thou command me, besides 
lying? 

Ulys. I say that you must take Philoctetes by 
craft. 

Neop. But why rather by craft, than by persua- 
sion? 

Ulys. He will not submit, nor can you take him 
by force. 

Neop. Hath he this prodigious strength ? 

Ulys. He hath inevitable mortal darts. 

Neop. Nor is it safe to come near him ? 

Ulys. No, unless you take him by fraud, as 1 say. 

Neop. But thinkest thou it is not a vile thing to 
lie? 

Ulys. No ; when to lie is the safest way. 

Neop, With what face dare any one say this ? 

Ulys. *" When you do any thing for your profit, 
you ought not to be afraid. 

Neop, But what profit is it for me, that he should 
come to Troy ? 

Ulys. His arrows alone will take Troy. 

Neop. Did you not say that I should take it ? 

Ulys. Not you without them, or they without you. 

Neop. They must, therefore, be taken, since it 
is so. 

Ulys. If you do it, you will have two rewards. 

Neop. Which are they ? If I know them, I shall 
not refuse to do it. 

*^ When you do any thing for your profit^ you ought not.l But 
those of Ulysses, on the contrary, are fraudulent and self-ended, 
and shew he would, stick at nothing for his advantage; yea, he 
plainly declares it. For he says, orav t) ^^aq U >ce§^os ax okvi7v w^twit. 



PHILOCTETES. 339 

XJlys. You will be called both wise and brave. 

Neop, Go, I will do it, laj ing aside all modesty. 

Ulys. Dost thou remember, therefore, what coun- 
sel I gave thee ? 

Neop. Be assured of it, since once I have ap- 
proved of it. 

Ulys. Therefore, do thou stay here to wait for 
him ; but I will go hence, lest I should be seen, 
and will send again the spy to the ship ; and, if I 
think you delay too long, I will send him back 
again in the disguise of a sailor, changing his habit, 
as if he met with you by ignorance, whom you shall 
observe speaking mystically, whatsoever he says 
for your advantage. I go, therefore, to my ship, 
leaving these instructions with you ; ^ and may Mer- 
cury, that subtle commander, conduct us, and vic- 
torious Pallas, guardian of the city, which always 
defends me. 



ACT I. SCENE II. 

Strophe I. 

Chorus, Neoptolemus. 

What should I, a stranger, do in a strange land ? 
Shall I be private ? Or what shall I speak before 
the man, when he suspects us? Tell me? For ^ his 
counsel exceeds all other counsels and opinions, by 
whom the divine sceptre of Jove is swayed. To 
thee, O son, the ancient power belongs ; then tell 
me wherein I should assist thee ? 

^ May Mercury, that subtle commander.] See the notes on 
Electra. 

* His counsel exceeds all other counsels and opinions^ by whom 
the divine scepti^e.] So in the Oedipus Tyrannus. 

z 2 



340 PHILOCTETES. 

Nepp^ Now would you see the utmost bounds of 
the place where he inhabits, look boldly. And 
when this terrible traveller comes from his covert, 
thou still approaching to my hand, endeavour to 
assist in the present affair. 

Antistrophe I. 

Cho. Thou tellest me, my lord, what I thought 
before, to observe the motions of your eyes, and to 
watch your occasions which demand my help. Now 
tell me his usual haunts, the places of his abode ; 
it is fit I know them, lest I should not know him 
when he comes. What place doth he inhabit? 
Where is his seat, and what way does he pass out 
or in ? 

Neop. You see this dome, and the double doors, 
and rocky bed. 

Cho, Where is the wretch himself absent ? 

Neop. To seek for food he somewhere walks, this 
way, hard by. The report is, that this is his wretched 
manner of life, to shoot with swift arrows, and not 
to seek any remedy for his disease. 

Strophe I. 

Cho. I pity him that he hath none to take care of 
him, nor any relation to regard him; but the wretch, 
ever alone, endures a cruel disease, and is in sor- 
row in every time of need. How, alas! how doth 
the wretch endure himself? O the toils of mortals ! 
O miserable race of men! who in their fortunes en- 
joy no middle state. 

Antistrophe II. 
This man, perhaps in birth, second to none, the 
most ujihappy of all men in his life^ lies alone apart 
from all others, with the spotted and hairy beasts, 
afflicted with pains and hunger, oppressed with 
most intolerable cares; and, the mournful echo with 



PHILOCTETES. 341 

Open mouth, resounding far off, repeats his sad 
complaints. 

Neop. Nothing of this seems wonderful to me; 
for, if I understand ought, these afflictions are sent 
by a divine hand ; by ^ means of cruel Chryse : and 
now that he suffers without friends, it is not without 
the providence of the gods, that he should no sooner 
cast his invincible arrows against Troy; then that 
time comes wherein it was foretold, that it must be 
overcome by them. 

Antistrophica Strophe. 

Cho. Be silent, child. 

Neop. What is that? 

Cho. Methinks I hear the voice of an afflicted 
man. 

Neop. Which way? This way or that? the voice 
of one salutes my ears, which, though it sounds 
from far, I can discern it is the voice of sorrow. 

Antistrophe. 

Cho. But take my son. 

Neop. What? 

Cho. New cares, for the man is not far distant, 
but hard by, nor delighted with voice of pipe as a 
country shepherd; but, either he having struck 
against something, roars out with a loud voice ; or, 
seeing our entrance into this sad port, bawls thus 
terribly. 

^ By means of cruel Chryse."] Chryse was a city near Lemnos, 
where Philoctetes was bit by the serpent in his foot, while he was 
looking for the altar on which Hercules sacriiiced, when he went 
to light against Troy. But there was likewise a nymph of that 
name, who, being in love with Philoctetes, because he slighted 
her, she prayed these evils might befal him; and, therefore, the 
poet calls her cruel. 



342 PHILOCTETES. 

ACT II. SCENE I. 
Philoctetes, Chorus , Neoptolemus. 

Phil. O strangers! who are you, who have put 
m at this land, neither fit for your reception, nor in- 
habited? Of what nation or kindred shall I call 
you? for I see a kind of Grecian habit which I most 
of all admire; I desire to hear your voice: nor, 
trembling with fear, stand amazed beholding me 
thus fierce, but pity me, a wretch, who am alone, 
forsaken, and friendless. Speak, if you are come as 
friends, and answer me; for, it is not fit that I 
should fail of that kindness from you, or you from 
me. 

Neop. First then, stranger, know that we are 
Grecians ; it is that thou desirest to know. 

Phil, O most loved voice : ah! that I should hear 
a Grecian's voice, after so long time. Who brought 
thee hither, son? What necessity? What violence 
forced you hither? Or what most friendly of all the 
winds ? tell me plainly the whole matter, that I may 
kiiow who you are. 

Neop, I am of the land of Scyros, and am saiK 
ing home. I am called Neoptolemus, the son of 
Achilles. Now thou knowest all. 

Phil, O son of a father most beloved by me, 
darling of Lycomedes ; with what fleet didst thou 
sail into this land? And whence art thou come? 

Neop. I have sailed with my fleet from Ilium. 

Phil, How ? thou didst not sail with us to Ilium 
in the beginning of the war. 

Neop, And did you partake in that service? 

Phil, O son! knowest thou not whom thou seest? 

Neop, How should I know him whom I never 
saw before? 

Phil, Didst thou never hear my name, or the 



PHILOCTETES. 343 

fame of my sufferings, with which I have been op- 
pressed ? 

Neop. I know none of them. 

Phil. Oh, me, a wretch ! detested of the gods 1 
of whom, though suffering thus, no report ever 
reached home, nor Greece ; they who impiously ba- 
nished me, deride me. silently, but this my distem- 
per still increases. O son! born of Achilles, I am 
he who probably thou hast heard, am master of the 
darts of Hercules : Philoctetes, the son of Paean, 
whom the two Atridse basely exposed, to perish by 
the cruel wovmd of a viper. And when they had 
exposed me here, in their voyage hither from Chryse,. 
when gladly they saw me asleep upon a rock, tired 
with sailing, they then went away and left me ; and,^ 
as to a poor wretch, they gave me a few rags and a 
little food, such as they had. But how do you 
think I awaked from my sleep when they were gone,, 
and how deplored my sufferings, when I saw that 
my ships were sailed away, that I had no neigh- 
bour, and none was present to assist me, labouring 
under this distemper? considering all things, I 
found no relief was near, but I must lie in pain, and 
I had opportimity enough for that. My time passed 
on, and I must seek for myself some nourishment 
in this mean habitation, and that my bow found out 
by shooting of fleet doves; and whatsoever else my 
arrow shot, I crawled along to seize it: moreover, 
if I wanted drink, or to break wood in the frosty 
winter, that I crawled out and did. Then there 
wanted fire ; so, knocking the stones together, with 
difficulty I produced the fire which lay concealed in 
them, which preserves me: a habitation, therefore, 
with fire, furnishes all things besides health. Now 
learn concerning this island. No sailor willingly 
puts into it, for there is no harbour here, nor any 
gain to be had by trading ; nor is any entertainment 
here ; therefore, no skilful sailors steer their course 



344 PHILOCTETES. 

this way. Perhaps some against his will might put 
in here, for many such things happen in long time. 
They comfort me with then speeches when they 
come, and, out of pity, give me some food and 
clothing ; but none will bring me home when I make 
that request, but miserably I perish for these ten 
years with hunger and sorrows, feeding a devouring 
distemper. 

And all this I have suffered from the Atridse and 
Ul}'sses, to whom may the celestial gods repay 
condign punishment. 

C/io. I pity you, as well as other strangers who 
come hither. 

Neop. I can attest the truth of thy w^ords, for I 
know by experience that they are wicked men, and 
that Ulysses is violent. 

Phil. And hast thou an accusation against the 
vile Atridee, that thy sufferings have thus enraged 
thee? 

Neop. O that my hands had power to shew my 
resentments against them, that My cense and Sparta 
might know Scyros brings forth brave men. 

Phil. Therefore thus enraged art thou cOme to 
accuse them. 

Neop. I will tell, but scarce can I tell, how I 
have been injured by them : for, after fate had de- 
creed that Achilles should die 

Phil. Alas! say no more, ere first I learn if 
Achilles be dead. 

Neop. He died by no man, but by the arrows of 
the god Apollo, as they say. 

Phil. He was glorious both in life and death ; I 
doubt whether I shall first talk of your sufferings, 
or deplore him. 

Neop. I believe thou hast sufferings enough of thy 
own to lament, without those of thy friends. 

Phil. Right, therefore tell me that deed, wherein 
they have injured thee. 



PHILOCTETES. 345 

'Neop. Ulysses and Phoenix came to me attended 
with a numerous fleet, saying: (whether it was true or 
false) that it was not possible, since my father was 
dead, Troy could be taken without me. When 
they had said this, they suffered me not to tarry 
long, ere I sailed away speedily; and I was ready 
to comply with their desire for this reason, chiefly, 
the longing I had to see my dead father, for I had 
not seen him living; besides, it were a glorious act, 
could I take Troy. After I had sailed two days, 
and with a prosperous voyage arrived at ^ sad 
Sigeum, the whole army standing round saluted me, 
and swore that Achilles, although dead, yet lived 
in me. He lay dead, but after unhappy I had la- 
mented him a little while, going to the Atridse, as it 
was fit I should, I demanded the armour of my 
father, and all things besides which belonged to 
him, but they returned me a most miserable answer: 
son of Achilles, whatever else belonged to thy father 
thou may est take; but another man, the son of 
Laertes, hath his armour. Then I, weeping, rise 
up, incensed with dismal wTath, and grieving say : 
O hated wretches, dare you give my armour to any 
else besides me, without my leave ? But Ulysses (for 
he was near) replied, they adjudged them to me, 
^ for I preserved both them and him. I presently 
enraged against them, wished the saddest evils might 
befal them, leaving nought unsaid, if he robbed me 
of my armour. But he coming to me, though not 
in anger, yet pricked with what he had heard, an- 
swered: thou wast not with us, but wast absent 



8 Sad Sigeum.] He calls it sad Sigeum, because it was the 
place where his father met his fate. 

^ For I preserved both them and him.] It was said that Ulysses 
took the body of Achilles, and his armour, after he was slain^ 
away from the Trojans. And Ovid brings him in boasting. 

His humeris ego Corpus Achillis, S^c, 



346 PHILOCTETES. 

where thou shouldst not have been; and shice thus 
boldly thou sayest all this, thou shalt never carry 
them with thee to Scyros. 

When I heard all this, I was vexed at the re- 
proaches, and sailed home, deprived of my own by 
impious Ulysses. Nor do I accuse him as I do the 
chiefs, for the whole city and army belongs to go- 
vernors, and delinquents are made wicked by their 
examples. I have said all. But he who hates the 
Atridae, is beloved both by the gods and me. 

Antistrophica Strophe. 

Cho. ' Mountainous Rhea, earth, mother of Jove, 
who nourishest all things, who govemest ^ great 
Pactolus, which slides on golden sands, thee, vene- 
rable mother, I invoke to revenge the injuries Neop- 
tolemus hath suffered from the Atrida? ; since, from 
the Atridae all his afflictions proceeded, when they 
gave away his father's armour. O happy goddess, 
whose chariot is drawn by lions, supreme deity ! 

Phil. You have sailed hither, friends, with a cer- 
tain token of your sorrow, and agree with me in 
acknowledging, that all these things come from the 
Atridae and from Ulysses ; for I know him to have 
a tongue expert in uttering all deceitful counsels 
and frauds, whereby he never designs to do justice: 



* Mountainous Rhea.] Rhea is the same with the earth, who, 
because her sacred rites are performed in the mountains, is there- 
fore called o^sre^, or o^sia, mountainous goddess. Homer calls 
her ^si^ai^oq. She had several other names, as Ops, Cybele, Dindy- 
mene, Bericynthia, Vesta, &c. She was worshipped by the Phry- 
gians. The Chorus here invocates her to revenge the injury 
which Neoptolemus received of Agamemnon and liis evil coun- 
sellors, in depriving him of his father's armour. 

^ Great Pactolus, which slides on golden sands.] Pactolus is 
a river of Lydia, which with the force of its streams brings down 
golden sands from the mountain Tmolus, from whence it flows. 
Whence lla)t]w^of 'ivx^va-ov. By the sands of this river Croesus was 
said to have enrich^ himself. 



PHILOCTETES. 347 

wherefore that is no wonder to me. But I wonder 
that Ajax, the elder, (if he were by,) should suffer 
that. 

Neop. He is no more : for, had he lived I had not 
been deprived of them. ' 

Phil. What say est thou ; is he dead ? 

Neop. No more he sees the light. 

Phil. Ah, me! nor the son of Tydeus, nor 
Ulysses, sold by Sisyphus to Laertes, are dead : for 
it is not fit that they should live. 

Neop. No ; but they flourish greatly in the Argian 
army. 

Phil. How does my good old friend, Nestor, 
king of Pylos? for he forbid their wicked arts and 
gave good counsel. 

Neop. He is now unhappy, for Antilochus, his 
son, is dead. 

Phil. Woe is me, thou hast told me two misfor- 
tunes, that they are dead whom I above all wished 
to have lived ; alas, what shall I now think since 
they are dead, but Ulysses lives, whom it was fitter 
should have died for them. 

Neop. Ulysses is a prudent warrior, but wise 
counsels are often overcome. 

Phil. Speak : tell me, by the gods, where was 
Patroclus then, who was your father's most beloved 
friend ? 

Neop. And he is dead: for, as in short I shall in- 
form thee, unless it be by chance, the war destroys 
no vncked man, but always the good. 

Phil. I agree with thee, therefore I will inquire 
of that unw^orthy man, but prudent and grave in 
speech ; how is it with him ? 

Neop. Who is he but Ulysses, of whom thou 
speakest ? 

Phil, I say not him, but there was one • Thersites, 

' Thersites, who often used.'\ He was slain by Achilles at the 



348 PHILOCTETES. 

who often used to speak when none endured to hear 
him : knowest thou if he still lives ? 

Neop. I have not seen him, but have heard he is 
still alive. 

Phil. So it was to be, since nothing that is ill is 
gone. Ill things the gods take care of: but, if there 
be ought that is subtle and fraudulent, that they 
gladly preserve from death ; but whatsoever things 
are just and good, those they always deliver to her. 
What can we judge in these things, or how commend 
the deeds of the gods, "" since we find them bad ? 

Neop. Wherefore thou son of an Oetaean father, 
I, for the future looking at a distance, will avoid 
both Ilium and the Atridae, for among whom a bad 
man can do more than a good, and every thing is 
oppressed that is good, and violence rules, I will no 
more respect such men. But rocky Scyros here- 
after shall suffice for me, and I will content myself 
at home. Now I go to my ship ; and thou farewell, 
may all prosperity attend thee, and may the gods 
free thee from thy disease, as thou desirest ; but we 
will go, when God grants us a seasonable gale, then 
we will launch forth. 

Phil. Dost thou now prepare for going ? 

Neop. Season now is near, and calls us to sail 
away. 

Phil. Now, by thy father and thy mother, if 
there be ought dear to thee at home, humbly I be- 
seech thee leave me not thus alone; forsaken in 
these ills in which thou seest me, and in those 

same time when he slew Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons : for, 
after Achilles had slain her, Thersites struck her in the eye with 
his spear, for which Achilles was so enrage^, that he beat out his 
brains with liis fist. 

°* Since wejlnd them bad.] It is no great wonder they should 
charge their gods with evil, since they were so familiarly conver- 
sant among them, even as to be present in their battles, and even 
direct those arrows which were cast by others. See Homer's II. cr,^ 



PHILOCTETES. 349 

wljerein thou hast heard I have been conversant; 
but lay me down m any mean place. I know I am 
troublesome, but then, nevertheless, bear with me ; 
for generous minds hate any thing that is base, but 
delight in what is honourable. If you forsake me 
it will be a bad reproach to you ; but, if you take 
me, much glory will be your reward, when I come 
safe to Oeta. I shall not be the burthen of a whole 
day: venture it, take me and lay me where thou 
wilt on the jakes, or on the prow, that I may as 
little as possible disturb others that are present. 
Yield to me, by Jupiter, guardian of suppliants ; be 
persuaded; I prostrate myself, and grasp your 
knees, though I am weak, miserable, and lame; 
leave me not thus destitute without footstep of man- 
kind, but either lead me safe into your country, or 
into Eubcea, and from thence my way to Oeta is not 
far, and the borders of Trachinium, and gently 
flowing Sperchius, that you may restore me to my 
beloved father, whom I have long feared lest he be 
dead. For, I have sent him many suppliant prayers 
by those who came hither, that he would send a 
ship and bring me safe home; but, either he is dead, 
or, which is most probable, the messengers making 
small account of my business, hastened home. But 
now I come to you as my conductor and my guar- 
dian angel, do thou save me, seeing how men lie 
exposed to many dangers, now they are in prospe- 
rity, now in adversity : but it becomes him w ho is 
free from troubles to look upon the afflicted. And 
when any one lives happily, then ought he to look 
to himself, lest some unforeseen accident destroy 
liim. 

A^fTlSTROPHE. 

CJio. Pity him, O king, for he hath mentioned 
trials of many sad sufferings, which none of my 
friends ever did : but, if thou hatest the fierce Atridae, 



350 PHILOCTETES. 

I, turning tlieir evil to his advantage here, since he 
eagerly urges it, in a well-rigged nimble ship will go 
home, avoiding the vengeance of the gods. 



ACT III. SCENE I. 
Neoptolemus, Chorus, Philoctetes. 

Neop. Beware lest thou art over easy, for when 
thou art tired with his distemper thou wilt not be 
the same. 

Cho. By no means, thou shalt never have that to 
reproach me \\ith. 

Neop. It is a shame that I should seem behind 
thee in readiness to assist a stranger ; therefore, if 
thou think est fit, we will sail, let him come quickly, 
the ship shall receive him, nor shall he be denied. 
Only may the gods conduct us safe out of this land, 
to ^vhatsoever place Ave desire from hence to sail. 

Phil. O joyful day! and thou most beloved of all 
men, and dear sailors, how shall I shew myself suf- 
ficiently grateful to you ? let us go and salute my 
familiar habitation, that you may know upon what 
I have lived, and how patient I have been ; for, I 
think that no other but me, who only takes a view 
of it with his eyes, would endure all this which I 
have done, but I am taught by necessity to bear it. 

Cho. But wait that we may learn farther. — Two 
men, our ship-companion and another, approach, 
whom when you have heard, afterwards you shall 
go in. 



ACT III. SCENE II. 

One of the Chorus, one disguised like a Merchant, 
sent hy Ulysses, Neoptolemus, Philoctetes. 

Merch: "" Son of Achilles, I commanded this my 

" Son of Achilles.] Here entereth tlje servant of Uiysses, 



PHILOCTETES. 351 

companion, who was the keeper of your ship, to tell 
me where you were, since I have met with you con- 
trary to my expectation as by accident I came to 
this country, sailing from Ilium "" home to Pepareth 
with vines well planted, not with a large fleet; when 
I heard these were your sailors, I resolved, since I 
had met with my brother sailors, not to sail by in 
silence, ere I desired thee to sail away. Thou 
knowest nought of what concerns thee, what con- 
sultations the Argians have had about thee, and not 
only consultations, but some things have been acted. 

Neop. Thanks to thee for thy kind admonition, 
and if I am no ill man, my well deserved grace at- 
tends thee. But speak, that I may know what new 
consultation of the Argians about me this is thou 
hast told me of. 

Mer. Old Phoenix and ^ the sons of Theseus are 
gone out with their fleet, in pursuit of thee. 

Neop. To bring me by force or persuasion ? 

Mer. I know not, but what I have heard I tell 
thee. 

Neop. Doth Phoenix and his companions do this 
to gratify the Atridae ? 

Mer. Be assured these things are now in hand, 
nor is there any delay. 

Neop. Why doth not Ulysses take it in hand 
himself? Was he ready to have sailed hither, or 
Avould not his fear alone let him? 



dressed in the habit of a merchant, as they had agreed upon be- 
fore, who, feigning himself to come to the place by accident, 
alarms him with a false account of some pursuers, and whom he 
warns him to avoid ; but his design was to bring him and Philoc- 
tetes to Ulysses's ship. 

° Home to Pepareth.] Peparethus is one of the islands of the 
Cyclades, in the iEgean sea. 

P The sons of Theseus.] Their names were Acamas and De- 
mophoon. Homer mentions them not in his catalogue of Heroes, 



352 PHILOCTETES. 

Mer, He and Diomedes, when I came hither, 
sailed after another. 

Neop, Whom? 

Mer. It was one ; but tell me first who this is, 
but speak not loud. 

Neop, He is noble Philoctetes. 

Mer. Now ask me no more, but with all speed 
launch forth, and convey thyself out of this country. 

Phil. What says he? Why doth he privately 
betray me by his discourse to you? 

Neop. I know not what he said, but he ought to 
say clearly what he says before thee, my friends, 
and myself. 

Mer. O son of Achilles, betray me not to the 
army, since I speak what I ought not ; for I have 
received of them much kindness. 

Neop. I am an enemy to the Atridae, but this my 
gTeatest friend, because he hates them. You ought, 
therefore, to conceal nothing from us of all you 
have heard, if it be acceptable. 

Mer. Consider what you do. 

Neop. I do consider. 

Mer. I shall blame you for all this. 

Neop. For what ? 

Mer. Those two men, as thou hast heard of, 
Diomedes and Ulysses, bound by oath, do sail 
against this man, to bring him away either by per- 
suasion or by violence ; and this all the Grecians 
heard Ulysses plainly say ; for he of the two hath 
most boldness to do that deed. 

Neop. On what account do the Atridae, after so 
long time, regard Philoctetes, whom long before 
they rejected ? Whence comes this their desire of 
him ? Is it from the Gods, and Nemesis, who re- 
venges vile deeds ? 

Mer. I will inform thee of all (for probably thou 
hast not heard it). There was a noble prophet, son 



PHILOCTETES. ^ 353 

of Priam, his name was Helenus, whom this frau- 
dulent Ulysses, (who never hears ought of himself 
but what is base and dishonourable,) going out 
alone by night, seized and bnnging him prisoner, 
shewed all the Grecians his fine prey. This prophet, 
with many other things, prophesied to them, that 
they should never overcome Troy, unless prevailing 
upon this man, by persuasion, they lead him out of 
this island wherein he dwells. When the son of 
Laertes heard the prophet say this, immediately he 
promised he would bring him, he thought he could 
bring him by his own choice, but if not, to use vio- 
lence, and promised that' his head should pay the 
forfeit if he failed : thou hast heard all, therefore I 
advise you both hasten away, and if there be any 
other whom thou carest for. 

Phil. Woe is me ! Did that \dllain, that abstract 
of all ill, swear that he would persuade me to go 
to the Grecians ? As soon I will be persuaded 
"^ that when I die I shall return again to life, as his 
father, Sisyphus, did. 

Met'. That I know not, but I go to my ship, and 
may God grant you all good things. 



ACT III. SCENE III. 

Philoctetes, NeoptoJemus, Chorus. 

Phil. Is not this most unjust, that the son of 
Laertes hopes, with deluding words, to bring me to 
the Grecians ? No ; I would sooner hear my most 

^ That when I die I shall return.'] To what was said before of 
Sisyphtts, the father of Ulysses, this farther account is added, that 
upon his death-bed he charged his wife to leave his body unburied, 
which accordingly she did ; whereupon he accused her to Pluto and 
Proserpine for not performing due funeral obsequies to his body, 
and obtained of them leave to return to life and revenge on her 
the affront ; but when he came to life, he never returned until he 
was constrained by necessity. 

A ii 



354 . PHILOCTETES. 

bitter enemy, the viper who made me lame. But 
he says and dares all things, and now I know he 
will certainly come. Wherefore, O son, let us go, 
that the broad sea may divide us from Ulysses's 
ship. Let us go, for seasonable diligence at last 
brings ease and rest from labour. , 

Neop. When there is a fair wind ; now it blows 
against us. 

Phil. When you fly from evils, there is always 
good sailing. 

Neop. Fear not, tlie winds oppose them too, 
(i. e. Ulysses and Diomedes.) 

Phil. The winds never oppose pirates, when 
their time is for robbing and plundering. 

Neop. If thou thinkest fit then, we will go ; and 
bring with thee what thou hast need of and desirest. 

Phil. There are some things that 1 have need of. 

Neop. What is that which is not in my ship ? 

Phil. I liave a leaf wherewith I always ease my 
wounds and mitigate my pain. 

Neop. Bring it out ; what other thing dost thou 
desire to take ? 

Phil. Alas ! I suspect that I have left something 
that belongs to those bows ; but leave it not for 
another to take. 

Neop. Meanest thou those excellent bows ? 

Phil. The same ; for I bear no other. 

Neop. But may I take a view of them nearer, and 
cany them, and adore them as some god ? 

Phil. That shall be granted thee, and any thing 
else in my power that will be for thy profit. 

Neop. I love this bow, but my love is thus ; if it 
be just for me I will, if not excuse me. 

Phil. Thou speakest piously ; it is just for thee, 
by whose providence alone the light of the sun I 
see, the land of Oeta, my ancient father and my 
friends ; and who, being under the power of my 
enemies, hast freed me from thence. Be confident 



PHILOCTETES. 355 

you may both touch these, return them to the giver, 
and boast that you alone of all men may touch 
them, for your virtue's sake : for it is for my good 
deeds I got them, nor am I grieved to see you touch 
them who art my friend ; for he who hath been well 
used, knows how to use well his benefactor, and a 
friend is more precious than the greatest wealth. 

Neop, Go in. 

Phil. And I will introduce thee ; for, being dis- 
tempered, I have need of thee to assist me. 



ACT III. SCENE IV. 

CJiorus. 

Strophe I, 

I have heard but never saw it, that formerly 
"^ mighty Jove took Ixion, who attempted to corrupt 
his bed, and bound him a prisoner to a wheel, to be 
whirled round ; but never heard or saw any other 
who suffered a more cruel fate than this man, who 
neither injured nor robbed any one, but a just man 
unworthily perishes : and I wonder at that, how 
alone, as a ship immersed in waves beaten on every 
side, he endured this lamentable life. 



^ Mighty Jove took Ixion.'] He was the son of Phlegyas ; the 
crime for which he is thus punished was his boasting he had cor- 
rupted Jiino, but it was only a cloud in her shape, on which he be- 
gat the Centaurs. Tibul. lib. i. Eleg. 3. 

Illic Junonem tentare Ixionis ausi 
Versantur celeri noxia memhra rota. 

The offensive members of Ixion, who dared to tenij)t the chastity 
of Juno, are turned about on a nimble wheel. And Pindar Pvth. 
Od. ii. 

l^iovx 

IP 9rl^ojvlt T^°%^ -njavlet KvXivoofAivoy. 

A a 2 



356 PHILOCTETE5. 



Antistrophe T. 



Exposed to winds, having no power to go, nor 
a,ny, even bad, neighbour to whom he may pubhsh 
his sad and cruel grief, again to be repeated ; nor 
any to assuage with soft leaves the warm ulcer of 
his wounded foot, or if any there should happen to 
be to bear him his food from the fruitful earth ; but 
he creeps forth every where, dragging himself along 
as a child without his beloved nurse, where the ways 
are smooth, when his torturing pain will suffer him : 
nor, unless with arrows and trusty bow, gets he any 
food to eat ; who for this ten years time hath not 
been delighted with one draught of wine, but look- 
ing where he can spy any standing water, he creeps 
to it to quench his thirst. 

Antistrophe II. 

But now, meeting with noble Neoptolemus, will 
lead a happy life, and, from his past troubles, will 
become great ; who, taking him into a sea-crossing 
ship, after many months will bring him into his 
father's country, to the nymphs of Melis and the 
banks of Sperchius, where Hercules passed to the 
celestial gods, burnt in a pile on the bank of Oeta. 



ACT IV. SCENE I. ^ 
Neoptolemus, Philoctetes, Chorus. 

Neop, Go on, if thou wilt ; why art thou thus si- 
lent for no cause, and thus amazed ? 

Phil. Alas ! alas ! 

Neop. What is the matter ? 

Phil. No harm, but go on. 

Neop. Do you restrain the violence of your ap- 
proaching disease ? 



PHILOCTETEfS. 357 

PhiL No, but I think ' it is easier with me ; O 
the gods ! 

Neop. Why, thus lamenting, dost thou invocate 
the gods ? 

Phil, That they would come to us as our kind 
dehverers ; ah ! ah ! 

Neop. What is that thou sufferest? Wilt thou 
not speak, but still continue thus in silence ? Thou 
seemest to labour under some evil. 

PhiL O I am lost : nor can I conceal my sorrow 
from you. Woe is me ! it pierces me ; alas ! alas ! 
I am undone, I am destroyed, &c. By the gods, 
if thou hast a sword ready at hand, smite my foot, 
cut it off with all speed ; nor spare my life ; go, my 
«on. 

Neop. What sudden thing is this? Why dost 
thou make all these clamours and lamentations ? 

Phil. O, child, thou knowest. 

Neop. What is it ? 

Phil. Thou knowest. 

Neop. What is the matter with thee ? 

Phil. I know not. 

Neop. How dost thou mean thou knowest not ? 

PhiL Alas! Alas! 

Neop. How terrible is the coming on of this 
disease. 

PhiL So terrible it cannot be uttered. O pity me. 

Neop. What shall I do ? 

Phil. Forsake me not, for fear of my disease : it 
comes by intervals, as wandering beasts for prey 
return home when they are filled. 

Neop. Thou miserable man, through many toils 
thou art miserable : permit me to take hold of, and 
carry thee. 



' It is easier with me ; O the gods.] Wliile he rejoices at the 
thouglits of his returning home to his country, still the pain of 
his distemper interrupts his joy. 



358 PHILOCTETES. 

Phil. By no means, but take my l)Ow as tliou 
didst ask me, until the present violence of my 
disease abates, keep and preserve these : sleep 
seizeth me when this disease comes on me, nor 
doth it cease before I sleep. Therefore, you must 
let me rest quietly ; but, if they come in that time, I 
beseech you, by the gods, neither willingly or un- 
willingly, or by any art be overcome to yield them 
up to Ulysses, lest you kill both yourself and me, 
who am your suppliant. 

Neop. Fear not, for by my consent they shall be 
common to none but thee and me. Therefore, give 
them me, and the good fortune too that attends them. 

Phil. Behold, receive them, and beseech Envy, 
that they may not be to you the occasion of so much 
woe as they have been to me, and him who before 
me possessed them. 

Neop. O tlie gods grant it be so, and grant us a 
prosperous voyage wheresoever God pleases to bear 
us, and where our ship arrives. 

Phil. I fear you pray in vain : the blood pours 
from my wound afresh : I expect some sudden acci- 
dent will happen. Woe is me ! and woe again ! O 
foot, what misery dost thou cause me. It comes, 
the pain approaches : woe is me ! the disease con- 
tinues, forsake me not. Alas ! I wish this pain were 
fixed deep in thy breast, Ulysses. O ye two chiefs, 
Agamemnon and Menelaus, how could ye so long 
bear this distemper for my sake, nor banish me be- 
fore ? Woe is me ! O death ! death ! why thus per- 
petually called upon every day, canst thou not 
come ? O noble youth, consume me with this fire 
that bums in Lemnos, as once I did the son of Jove 
that service for this armour. What sayest thou, son ? 
Why art thou silent ? Where do thy thoughts wan- 
der ? 

Neop, I mourn and lament thy sufferings. 

Phil, O son, be of good courage, as it comes 



PHILOCTETES. 359 

quick so it returns ; but I beseech you leave me not 
alone. 

Neop. Fear not, well stay. 

Phil. Wilt thou stay ? 

Neop. Assure yourself of it. 

Phil. Then I think it is improper to bind thee by 
oath. 

Neop. It is not just that I go away without you. 

Phil. Give me thy hand for a pledge of thy faith. 

Neop. I do engage my promise ; I will stay. 

Phil. This way, now this way. 

Neop. Which way sayest thou ? 

Phii. Upwards. 

Neop. Why dost thou rave again? Why dost 
thou look toward the sky ? ' 

Phil. Let me go, let me go. 

Neop. Whither ? 

Phil. Let me o'o. 

Neop. I say I will not let thee go. 

Phil. Thou wilt kill me, if thou touchest me. 

Neop. I let thee alone, now how much wiser art 
thou? 

Phil. O earth, receive a dying man as I am, for 
my disease [he falls asleep] suffers me no more to 
raise myself. 

Neop. It is likely that sleep will soon seize the 
man, his head is reclined, sweat bedews all his 
whole body, and in the sole of his foot a black vein 
is broke: but let us suffer him, friends, so to lie 
quiet, until he falls asleep. 



ACT IV. SCENE II. 

Chorus, Neoptolemus. 

Cho. O sleep, w liom no pain nor grief can hurt ; 
raayest thou, O king! who makest our life happy, 



360 PHILOCTETES. 

now favour us, and close his eyes in that darkness 
which now covers him. Come now, thou physi- 
cian, sleep. O son, consider now where you will 
stay or go, or what counsel dost thou think to take? 
or what shall we stay for ; opportunity, which over- 
comes the best counsels, now gives us great power. 

Neop. He hears nothing; but I perceive that in 
vain we pursue our prey with arrows, without him 
to sail with us ; the crown of victory must be from 
him; the god commanded to take him away: to 
make vain promises, even to the false, is a reproach- 
ful thing. 

Antistrophe. 

Cho. The gods will see all; but of whatsoever 
you would answer me again, let your discourse be 
short; for in a distemper all men's sleep is fleeting, 
so that they may look behind. Consider then what 
is the most convenient thing you can do, and ponder 
with yourself what you will resolve upon. Know- 
est thou of whom I speak? If thou hadst the same 
opinion with him, (i. e. Ulysses) thou wouldst take 
him away. Even the prudent find some difficulties 
to know what to do in doubtful cases. 

Epodos. 
The wind blow s fair ; his eyes are closed ; he 
hath no power to help himself^ but lies involved ui 
darkness. This warm sleep is good for us, and he 
is neither master of his hands or feet ; but he looks, 
he sees, he speaks like one drawing near his death : 
it is my care to take him. A deed done without 
fear is the noblest. 



ACT IV. SCENE III. 

Neoptolemus, Philoctetes, Chorus, 

Neop. Be silent, nor let your courage fail. He 
moves his eyes, and raises his head. 



PHILOCTETES. 361 

PML O light! sleep's successor, faithless guar- 
dian of my hopes, and these strangers; I never had 
thought it, that you could with pity bear my sad 
sufferings, continuing and assisting me. The 
Atridae, those good princes, could not easily bear 
that ; but thou art of a generous nature, and art 
born of generous parents, therefore easily didst 
bear it, though infested with my noise and ill-sa- 
vour. But now, since there is some intermission 
and rest from the disease, thou raise me up, and set 
me standing ; that since my weakness hath left me, 
we may go to the ship, and not delay our sailing. 

Neop. I rejoice that I see you, beyond my hope, 
free from pain, alive, and breathing ; for there were 
some signs of thee which appeared and signified 
thy death ; but now raise thyself. But, if it please 
thee better, these will bear thee; the labour will 
not grieve them, since it pleaseth both of us that they 
should do it. 

I^hil, I like that: then raise me up, since it is 
thy pleasure ; but let them go, lest they be offended 
with the ill-savour too soon ; for it will be trouble 
enough for them to live with me in the ship. 

Neop. Be it so ; then stand up and support thy- 
self. 

Phil. Fear not, I will raise myself according to 
my usual manner. 

Neop. ' Woe is me ! what shall I do ? 

Phil. What is that? What speech was it thou 
hast dropped? 

Neop. I know not how to direct my doubting 
judgment. 

Phil. What dost thou doubt of? Wilt thou not 
tell me? 

* Woe is me! what shall I?] Here Neoptolemus is uneasy, 
knowing with himself that he was about to deceive Pltiloctetes 
contrary to his natural disposition, and bring him to Troy, not to 
his country, as he had promised to do. 



362 PHILOCTETES. 

Neop. It is there I am perplexed with doubting. 
Phil. Doth the difficulty of bearing* my disease 
thus move thee, that thou wilt not take me a com- 
panion of thy voyage? 

Neop, All things are difficult, when any forsaking 
his own nature, doth things that ai-e unseemly. 

Phil. Thou neither dost nor sayest ought un- 
worthy of thy father, while thou dost assist a good 
man. 

Neop. I shall shew myself vile ; it is that dis- 
turbs me. 

Phil. But not in what you say or do ; yet I doubt. 
Neop. O Jove! what shall I do? I shall be twice 
caught in my vileness, in concealing what I ought 
not, and speaking most wicked words. 

Phil. This man, unless I am mistaken in my 
opinion, thinks to betray me, and, leaving me, to 
sail away. 

Neop. I will not leave thee; but, rather lest with 

gi'ief to thee, I take thee ; it is that which grieves me. 

Phil. What sayest thou? I understand thee not. 

Neop. I will conceal nought from thee : thou must 

sail to Troy, to the Grecians, and the army of the 

Atridse. 

Phil. Ah me! What hast thou said ? 
Neop. Do not lament before you know. 
Phil. Know what ? How dost thou think to do 
with me ? 

Neop. First to ease you of your disease, then to 
go and destroy the Trojan land. 

Phil. And dost thou think to do so ? 
Neop. Great necessity enforces it ; wherefore be 
not angry, though now thou hast heard this. 

Phil. I am undone, a wretch, betrayed. O 
stranger, what hast thou done to me ? Deliver me 
my bow with speed. 

Neop. But it is not fit I should ; both law and 
interest oblige me to obey those in power. 



PHILOCTETES. 363 

Phil. " O fire and every terror, most odious frau- 
dulent contrivance, what hast thou done to me? 
How hast thou deceived me ? Art thou not ashamed 
to see me thy suppliant prostrate at thy feet? O 
cruel man, in taking away my bow, thou hast taken 
my life. Restore me them I beseech thee, restore 
me them, by my father's gods, " take not away my 
life. Ah me, a wretch ! thou answerest me not, but 
he looks as if he would never restore them. O ye ports 
and promontories ! O commerce, with mountainous 
beasts, and uneven rocks, I speak this to you ; I have 
none else to speak to. I complain to you, you who 
were wont to hear my complaints, what the son of 
Achilles hath done to me. After he hath sworn to 
bring me home, he prepares to bring me back to Troy ; 
and, after he gave his hand in pledge of his truth, 
hath taken away my bow, which Hercules, the son 
of Jove, hath given me, and will deliver me to the 
Grecians, as though he had overcome me, a brave 
man, by force : nor doth he know that he kills one 
already dead, or a vain shadow, a mere image. He 
could not have taken me had I my strength ; since 
even as I am, he took me not but by fraud. But 
now, unhappy man, I am deceived ; what must I do ? 
Restore them to me: still be like thyself. What 
sayest thou? Art thou silent? I am undone, a 
wretch ! O rock with a double door, again I return 
to thee naked, and destitute of food. Alone I 
shall die in this cave, nor shall I kill any winged 
fowl, or wild beast of the mountains with my bow ; 
but dead myself, a wretch! I shall be food for 

" Ofire and every terror.'] Gr. 5 vv^ a-v. Spoken in allusion to 
Pyrrhus, one of Neoptolemus's names. 

^ Take not aivay my life.] Gr. rov ^iov ^v ij(,' d(peXYiq. A pretty al- 
lusion in the Greek, though it is not discerned in any other lan- 
guage. For 0'ioq, life, is likewise Greek for a bow, the accent 
being changed thus ^lo?. Yet this is scarcely grave enough for this 
kind of poem, as I have noted in the tragedy of Ajax, 



364 IPHILOCTETES, 

those I fed upon ; and those I hunted before will 
hunt me now, and I shall repay my death as a re- 
compense for theirs. This I have from him who 
seemed to think no ill. Yet, perish not before I 
know if thou wilt change thy mind ; but if not, 
may est thou miserably die. 

Cho, What shall we do, O king? It is in thy 
power either to sail away, or obey his words. 

Neop. Much pity for this man invades my breast, 
not now the first time, but before likewise. 

Phil. Pity me, by the gods, nor make thyself a 
reproach to mankind by deceiving me. 

Neop. Woe is me ! what shall I do ? Would I had 
never left Scyros ; these things so afflict me. 

Phil. Thou art not bad thyself, but art instructed 
by base men for these vile deeds ; but now exercise 
those arts upon others who deserve it. Deliver me 
my armour, then sail away. 

Neop. What must we do, my companions? 



ACT IV. SCENE IV. 
Ulysses, Philocfetes, Neoptolemus, Chorus. 

Ulys. Thou worst of slaves, wilt thou not leave 
this bow with me ? 

Phil, Ah me! who is this? Do I hear Ulysses? 

Ulys. It is him, be well assured of that; him 
whom you see. 

Phil. Woe is me ! I am sold, I am lost, undone. 
This is he who circumvented me, and stripped me 
of my armour. 

Ulys. It was I, and none else ; I own it. 

Phil. O son, quit my bow, return it to me. 

Ulys. Thou shalt not do that, though thou 
shouldst desire it. \to Neoptolemus.^ But thou 



PHILOCTETES. 366 

must go with thy armour, or they will take thee by ^ 
force. 

Phil. Thou most vile audacious slave ! will they 
take me by force? 

UI2/S. Aye, unless thou goest freely. 

Phil. O land of Lemnos, and thou invincible 
light of Vulcan's fire! Are such things tolerable, 
as that he should bear me hence by violence ? 

Ul^s. That you may know it, it is Jove who rules 
this land, by whom this was decreed ; I am but 
minister of that decree. 

PhiL O villain, what hast thou found out to say ? 
Dost thou pretend the gods, and make them liars. 

Uli/s, No, but true ; thou must go this way. 

Phil. But I say I will not. 

Uli/s. But I affirm it ; you must obey. 

Phil, Woe is me ! It is plain then my father begat 
me a slave, not a free man. 

UIt/s. No slave, but equal with the greatest 
princes with whom thou must take Troy, and destroy 
it by force. 

Phil, It shall never be, though I suffer the worst 
of evils, while I have this deep cave to contain me. 

Uli/s. What would st thou do? 

Phil. I will dash my head in pieces against this 
rock, then fall down headlong from it. 

UIt/s. Lay hands upon him ; let not that be in his 
power. [Ulysses's followers bind Philoctetes. 

Phil. O hands! what you endure for want of 
your beloved bow, bound by this man! O thou 
who, in thy thoughts, contrivest nothing, either good 
or worthy a free man ; thou hast deluded me ; how 
hast thou caught me, by sending this youth suborned 
by thee, to me unknovm, unworthy to be like thee, 
but rather me ; who knew how to do nothing, but as 
he was ordered : and now he seems to bear it with 
much grief, that he offended me, and that through 
him I have suffered. But thy base mind, always 



366 PHILOCTETES. 

looking' through coverts, hath well instructed him 
against liis will, unexpert before in frauds, to be 
wise in contriving wickedness. And now, having 
bound me, thinkest thou to take me from this shore, 
where before tliou didst cast me, destitute of friends, 
forsaken, an exile, among the living, dead ? Ah ! 
mayest tliou perish, and this I often wished might 
be thy fate ; but the gods grant nothing pleas- 
ing to me. Thou livest joyfully, but I am over- 
whelmed with woe ; and for this reason, that I live 
in many troubles derided by thee, and the two 
generals, sons of Atreus, whom thou servest in 
these deeds. Thou, for thy craftiness, which they 
respected, and by necessity their subject, didst sail 
with them. They, as thou sayest, cast me out a 
wretch, who willingly sailed hither commander of 
seven ships ; but they accuse thee. And now why 
do you bring me hither, and then take me away ? 
For what cause, who am no more, and, as for your 
part, am dead long since. Wherefore now, thou 
most hated of the gods, am I not lame, and ill-sa- 
voured to you ? How w ill you pray to the gods to 
consume the sacrifices, if I sail with you? How 
will you make libations ? For these were your pre- 
tences to cast me out. O, may you perish who thus 
have injured me, if the gods respect justice : but I 
know they do, for you had never sailed hither for 
the sake of a miserable man, unless some divine 
instigation, for my sake, had urged you to it. But, O 
my father's country and guardian gods, punish them 
all at last, if you commiserate me, who miserably 
live ; for if I saw them perish, I should think myself 
free from my disease. 

Cho. This stranger, Ulysses, is violent, and hath 
spoken a violent speech, nor doth he sink imder his 
afflictions. 

Ulys. I could say many things to him again, if it 
were convenient for me ; but now one thing I will 



PHILOCTETES. 36^ 

say: when there needs such words, I am he that 
will speak them ; and when there is a trial of just 
and good men, you shall find none a more righteous 
judge than me. I am used to overcome in every 
dispute wherein I am concerned, unless it be 
against thee ; and now willingly I will submit to thee. 
Set him free, nor touch him more ; let him stay 
here : we have no need of thee, since we have these 
arms. ^ We have Teuciais, who hath skill to use 
them ; and myself, who think I am not behind thee 
in handling them, or directing them against a mark. 
What need, therefore, is there of thee ? Farewell ; 
do thou tread the land of Lemnos ; but we will go, 
perhaps thy gift may gain me the honour which is 
due to thee. 

Phil. Woe is me ! what shall I do ? Wilt thou, clad 
in my armour, appear among the Grecians ? 

Ulys. Contradict me no more ; I go my way. 

Phil. O son of Achilles, shall I not hear thy 
voice ? Dost thou go hence ? 

Ulys. Go thy way, nor look towards him, though 
thou art noble, lest thou spoil our fortune. 

Phil. And am I thus forsaken of you, O stran- 
ger ? Shall I be left, nor will you pity me ? 

Cho. This is the governor of our ship ; whatever 
he saith to thee, we say the same likewise. 

Neop. I am blamed by him, (i. e. Ulysses,) that I 
am compassionate : yet stay, if it please him, for so 
long time while the sailors get all things ready for 
the ship, and we sacrifice to the gods ; perhaps he 
in that time may change his mind for the better ; 
then we will launch our ship, and do you come 
quickly when we call you. 

^ We have Teucrus.] Teucriis was particularly famous for his 
art in throwing darts, as appears botli by this place and another in 
the Ajax : although Menelaus calls him there to|ot»7? in derision, 
when he contended with him about the burial of Ajax, in these 
words: *' This archer seems not to think meanly of himself." 



368 PHILOCTETES. 

ACT IV. SCENE V. 

Antistrophica Strophe I. 

PhilocteteSy Chorus. 

PJiiL O cave in the hollow rock, by turns hot 
and cold ! I never must leave thee, but thou must 
serve me as my habitation, until I die. O habitation 
filled with my woe, what shall I do in my remaining 
days ? What food shall I get ? What hope will ever 
cheer me ? O ! I would the ravenous birds would in 
a mighty wind bear me up through the aii*, for longer 
I cannot sustain myself. 

Strophe II. 

Cho, Thou thyself, unhappy man, hast brought 
upon thee thy misfortune; it comes not any other 
way: when it is in thy power to be wiser, and enjoy 
a better and happier fortune, thou hadst rather be 
more unhappy. 

Phil. O wretched me, worn out with sorrow ; 
who live alone here, forsaken of all men, and shall 
perish in this den ; nor shall I get more food, or 
shoot more birds with my bow, and stout hands. 
But he imposed upon me with the secret unseen 
fraud of his traitorous mind. Would I could see 
him who contrived this, for as long time sharing like 
pains with me. 

Antistrophe II. 

Cho. It was the fate of the gods, not the contriv- 
ance of my hands overcame you ; forbear your in- 
auspicious, odious, execrations against others ; for 
that is my care, that you reject not my benevolence. 

Strophe III. 
Phil. Woe is me ! now sitting somewhere on the 
hoary sand of the sea-shore, he laughs at me, bran- 
dishing in his hands my sustenance, whom none 
ever before carried. O, lovely bow, extorted out of 



PHILOCTETES. 369 

my hands, sure now if thou hast any thought, thou 
thinkest it a miserable case, that I should never 
hereafter use thee as Hercules did. The case is 
altered, thou art now put into the hands of a deceit- 
ful man, seest all his frauds, and a man most hated 
to me; and who, born of vile parents, hath done 
me innumerable wrongs. 

Strophe IV. 

Cho. It is the part of a good man to say the truth, 
and not to express malicious sorrow with his tongue : 
for he, being one who was from the army appointed 
to this business by the counsel of Ulysses, only lent 
his assistance to his friends. 

Antistrophe III. 

Phil. O ye birds, winged prey, and cheerful kind 
of mountain-wandering beasts, which this countrjf 
contains, no more approach me with terror at these 
dens ; for I have not in my hands the strength of 
my bow, w hich I had before. Ah me, a wretch ! 
now this place is free and unregarded, and no more 
terrible to you. Approach, and fill yourselves with 
my flesh, for recompense of the wounds your flesh 
received of me. I shall soon leave my life; for 
whence shall I have necessary food? Who can feed 
upon the air, who hath nothing which our mother- 
earth affords ? 

Antistrophe IV. 

Cho. Now, by the gods, if thou respectest stran- 
gers, receive Neoptolemus with all benevolence who 
joins himself to you; and know well, thou mayest 
avoid this calamity : he is unwise who chooses to 
live miserably and endure perpetual sorrow. 

Phil. Again thou puttest me in mind of my for- 
mer misfortunes. Why dost thou kill me? Why 
dost thou so ? 

Cho. Whv dost thou sav so ? 

B b 



.370 PHILOCTETES. 

Phil. Because thou thinkest to bring me back to 
hated Troy. 

Cho. But I think that to be the best. 

Phil. From henceforth leave me. 

Cho. With joy I receive thy commands, and shall 
execute them : we will go to our ship as we are or- 
dered. 

Phil. Now, I beseech you, by ^ Jove, revenger of 
those who supplicate in vain, depart not hence. 

Cho. Then be more gentle. 

Phil. O strangers, by the gods, stay. 

Cho. What sayest thou ? 

Phil. Alas! alas! I am undone, a wretch. O 
my foot, what shall I do with you the remaining 
part of my wretched life. Generous strangers, re- 
tarn again, I beseech you. 

Cho. What shall we do, besides what you have 
already ordered ? Is your mind changed 2 

Phil. It is not a fault for him that is afflicted with 
tumultuous sorrow, to roar like one besides himself. 

Cho. Go with us now, thou wretch, as we desire 
thee. 

Phil. By no means, that shall never be made 
good, though thimdering fire-bearing Jove, with his 
thunderbolts, should consume me. May Troy perish, 
and all those who are at it, who could bear to reject 
me for the ulcer of my foot. But, O strangers, 
grant me this petition. 

Cho. What is that thou sayest ? 

Phil. If thou hast any sort of armour, give it me. 

Cho. What slaughter wouldst thou commit ? 

Phil. I will cut off my head and feet with my 
hands ; the pain of my disease requires it. 

^ Jove, revenger of those who supplicate in vain.] There were 
among the ancients, as hath been noted, as many Joves to pray 
to as their several circumstances which they were in: so Jove 
u^actot;, was he whom they invocated, when they desired a thing 
earnestly of another. 



PHILOCTETES. 371 

Cho. How? 

Phil. I will seek my father. 

Cho. Where? 

Phil. Among the dead ; for he sees the light no 
more. O my father s city ! O that I could but be- 
hold you, who, forsaking your sacred religion, went 
an assister to the hostile Grecians. 

CJw. I had gone before to my ship, only that I 
saw Ulysses, the son of Achilles, coming to us. 



ACT V. SCENE I. 
Ulysses, Neoptolemiis, Chorus. 

XJlys. Will you not tell for what reason you return 
back so quick ? 

Neop. To expiate my offences, which before I 
committed. 

Ulys. You tell us a sad thing, but what was the 
offence ? 

Neop. My obeying thee and the whole army. 

Ulys. What act hast thou done unworthy of thy- 
self? 

Neop. I deceived the man with vile fraud and 
tricks. 

Ulys. What, alas! do you design any new thing? 

Neop. Nothing new but for Philoctetes. 

Ulys. What wilt thou do? How fear comes upon 
me? « 

Neop. From whom I have received this bow, 
again to him 

Ulys. O Jove! what sayest thou? Dost thou 
think to return it? 

Neop. I received it basely, and not according to 
justice. 

Ulys. By the gods, dost thou say this only to 
torment my heart? 

B b 2 



372 PHILOCTETES. 

Neop. Ay, if it be a torment to thee to speak 
truth. 

Ulys, What say est thou? 

Neop. Will you have me twice and thrice repeat 
the same words? 

Ulys, I had rather hear them not once. 

Neop. Assure thyself thou hast heard all. 

Ulys. But there is somebody who will hinder 
thee from doing that. 

Neop. What say est thou? Who is there that will 
hinder me? 

Ulys. The whole Grecian army and myself. 

Neop. Though thou art a wise man, thou speakest 
not wisely. 

Ulys. Thou neither speakest nor actest wisely. 

Neop. But, if justly, my actions are better than 
the most wise contrivances. 

Ulys. How is it just to return those things again, 
which you got by my counsel? 

Neop. I have committed a base fault, and that I 
will endeavour to undo. 

Ulys. Dost thou not fear the army of the Grecians 
that thou darest do this ? 

Neop. When I do justice, I fear not like thee ; 
nor do I think they will make me fear by your power. 

Ulys. Therefore we will not fight with the Tro- 
jans, but thee. 

Neop. Come what will. 

Ulys. Seest thou my right hand upon the hilt of 
my sword ? • 

Neop. And thou shalt see me do the like without 
delay. 

Ulys. But I will let thee alone, and tell this to 
all the Grecians, who will punish thee. 

Neop Thou art wise, and if hereafter thou will 
always be wise, thou mayest lead a life free fi-om 
sorrow. But thou, O son of Pcean, come out, and 
leave thy rocky cave. 



PHILOCTETES. 373 

actV. scene II. 

Philoctetesy Neoptolemus, Ulysses. 

Phil. What clamorous noise is this before my 
den? Why do you call me out? What, strangers, do 
you want? Alas! why will you add more evils to 
my former? 

Neop. Be of good courage, hear what I say to thee. 

Phil. I fear, alas ! for I have suffered before by 
fair speeches, when I was persuaded by thee, 

Neop. But may not one repent? 

Phil. Such a faithful man before thou didst feign 
thyself to be ; but privately wast my enemy, when 
thou didst rob me of my bow. 

Neop. But now I am not, but would know of 
thee whether thou wilt stay here or sail along with 
us. 

Phil. Cease, speak no more, for whatsoever thou 
sayest will be said in vain. 

Neop. Art thou so determined? 

Phil. And beyond what I speak. 

Neop. I would have thee be persuaded by my 
words; but, if I speak not seasonably, I will be 
silent. 

Phil. It will all be said in vain, thou wilt never 
find my mind well disposed towards thee, who hast 
taken away my life by frauds, and now thou comest 
to admdnish me, the most traiterous son of the best 
of fathers. First may the Atridae perish, then the 
son of Laertes, and lastly thou. 

Neop. Curse no more, but receive these arrows 
of my hands. 

PhiL How say est thou ; am I deceived a second 
time? 

Neop. I have swore it by the supreme deity of 
Jove. 



374 PHILOCTETES. 

Phil. Most sweet words, if what thou sayest he 
true. 

Neop. The truth shall be made appear ; extend 
thy right hand and take hold of thy armour. 

Ulys. I forbid it, (witness the gods,) in the name 
of the Atridae, and the whole army. 

Phil. O son, whose voice is this ? Do I hear 
Ulysses ? 

Ulys. Be assured of it, thou seest him near who 
will bring thee to Troy by force, whether the son of 
Achilles will or not. 

Phil. But thou shalt have no reason to rejoice, if 
this arrow be rightly directed. 

Neop. Ah ! by no means, I beseech thee, by the 
gods, cast not forth thy arrow. 

Phil. I beseech thee let go my hand. 

Neop. I cannot let thee go. 

Phil. Why wilt thou hinder me from killing with 
my arrows one who is my enemy ? 

Neop. That would be neither for my good, nor 
yours. 

Phil. This be well assured of, that the chiefs af 
the Grecian army are vain talkers, bold in words, 
but cowards in fight. 

Neop. Be it so ; thou hast thy bow, and canst 
not accuse or be angry with me. 

Phil. I own it, thou hast shewn thy natural dis- 
position, that thou art not descended of a deceitful 
Sisyphus, but Achilles ; who, while he was among 
the living, was always praised, and now is praised 
among the dead. 

Neop. 1 am glad thou praisest my father and me. 
Now hear what I would have thee do. It is neces- 
sary that all men should bear those fortunes which 
are allotted them by the gods ; but those who are 
oppressed by voluntary sufferings, as thou art, de- 
serve no pardon nor pity. But thou art so fierce 
that thou wilt admit of none to counsel thee. And 



PHILOCTETES. ' 375 

if any one out of benevolence admonishes thee, 
thou hatest him, and lookest on him as thy cruel 
enemy. Yet will I speak : I call Jove, thepunisher 
of perjury, for my witness ; know this, and write it 
in thy mind, it is by divine appointment thou suf- 
ferest this disease, when thou didst approach the 
unseen serpent, who guarded the open temple of 
Minerva ; and know that thou wilt never find a re- 
medy for this grievous disease, as long as this sun 
riseth here and sets again, ere thou goest to Troy, 
and there, meeting with the sons of -i^sculapius, 
who are with us, thou art healed by them of thy 
disease; and with me and those darts overthrowest 
Troy. I will tell thee how I know this to be true. 
There is a certain Trojan, taken by us, his name is 
Helenus, an excellent prophet, who plainly says it 
must be so. And, moreover, added, that of ne- 
cessity this summer Troy must be taken, and free- 
ly gives us leave to kill him if he speaks false. 
Therefore, since thou knowest this, submit freely ; 
it is a noble treasure to be reckoned most excellent 
of all the Grecians. Then by a physician to be 
healed of thy disease; then, by taking miserable 
Troy, to obtain supreme glory. 

Phil. O hated life ! why dost thou suffer me to 
live here, nor wilt dismiss me to my grave? Ah me! 
What shall I do ? How shall I distrust his words 
who in benevolence exhorts me? Shall I submit? 
But, if I do, how shall I ever hereafter behold the 
light ? To whom shall I call ? O ye celestial orbits 
who encompass and behold all things, can you 
endure this, that I should be with the sons of Atreus 
who have undone me, and the pernicious son of 
Laertes? For the grief of those things that are past 
do not so much torment me ; but what I must still 
suffer from them, my imagination represents before 
my eyes. For those who have a corrupt mind do 
every thing agreeably thereto. But I wonder at 



376 PHILOGTETES. 

thee, for thou neither oughtest to go to Troy thyself, 
but to hinder me from going, since they have injured 
thee, robbing thee of thy father s honour, and in the 
trial for his armour, rejected wretched Ajax, and 
judged them to Ulysses. Such are they thou goest 
to help, and wouldst force me to it. No, my son, 
but lead me into my country, as thou hast sworn ; 
and thyself resting in Scyros, suffer them miserably 
to perish : so shalt thou receive double thanks of 
me and of my father; and not, by helping base 
men, seem yourself to be like them. 

Neop. Thou sayest right, yet I would have thee 
believe the gods and my speeches; and, together 
with my present friend, sail out of this land. 

Phil, What ! to Troy, and the hated son of Atreus ? 

Neop. To them indeed, but yet to those who will 
heal thy corrupted foot, and free thee from thy 
disease. 

Phil. O most afflicting wojds ! What sayest thou? 

Neop. What is convenient for both of us. 

Phil. In saying thus dost thou not reproach the 
gods? 

Neop. I reproach not those whom I assist. 

Phil. Sayest thou it is an advantage to the Atridae 
or to me ? 

Neop. To thee, since I am thy friend, and so are 
my words, too, friendly. 

Phil. How ? Since thou wouldst betray me to my 
enemies. 

Neop. O my friend, learn in adversity to be 
humble. 

Phil. Thou killest me; I understand thee and 
thy words. 

Neop. Nay ; but I say thou dost not understand. 

Phil. I know that the Atridae have banished me. 

Neop. But what if they have banished thee; they 
will again restore thee. 

Phil. Not by willingly returning to Troy. 



PHILOCTETES. 37*^ 

Neop. What then shall I do ? If my words are 
of such small force in persuading thee, nought re- 
mains but that I hold my peace, and suffer thee to 
live as thou dost, without cure. 

Phil. Let me suffer my allotted portion of afflic- 
tions ; but what thou didst promise, and to confirm 
thy promise didst give me thy hand, that thou 
wouldst safely conduct me to my country, that I 
would hate thee perform. Nor think more of Troy ; 
for I have lamented enough. 

Troch.^. 

Neop. If that please thee, then let us go. 

Phil. O sweet words. 

Neop. Now stand firmly on thy feet. 

Phil. As well as I can. 

Neop. But how shall I escape the accusation of 
the Grecians ? 

Phil. Regard not that. 

Neop. But what if they destroy my country? 

Phil. I will help. 

Neop. How^ wilt thou assist ? 

Phil. With the arrows of Hercules. 

Neop. What say est thou ? 

Phil. I will hinder them from invading thy coua- 
try. 

Neop. If thou wilt do as thou say est, come and 
salute the earth. 



ACT V. SCENE THE LAST. 

Hercules descends, and hangs in the air, borne upon 

a cloud. 

Her. O son of Paeas, go not hence ere thou 
hearest my words, and knowest that it is the voice 
of Hercules thou hearest, and his presence which 



378 PHILOCTETES. 

thou seest. It is for thy sake I come, leaving my 
celestial mansions, to speak to thee great Jove's de- 
crees, and to hinder thee from going the way thou 
art in : therefore, hear my words. 

First of all, I will tell you the whole series of my 
fortunes. After many toils and labours I have at 
last obtained immortal honour, as thou mayest see : 
and be well assured it is ordained, that thou must 
suffer the same, and by thy toils gain a glorious 
life, by going along with this man to the city of 
Troy. First, thou shalt be healed of thy sad disease, 
and for thy virtue shalt be honoured above all the 
rest of the army ; shalt, with my darts, slay Paris, 
who was the cause of all these evils ; shalt lay Troy 
waste, and shall send home the spoils thereof, the 
purchase of thy virtue, chosen out for thee in the 
army, to thy father, Pseas, to the land of Oeta. 
But some of the .spoils thou receivest from the army, 
thou shalt bear and lay them as monuments at my 
funeral pile. Moreover, son of Achilles, I give 
thee this precaution, that thou neither canst take 
Troy without him, nor he without thee ; but, as 
two lions that pasture together, do thou guard him, 
and he shall thee. I will send ^sculapius to Ilium, 
who will heal thee of thy sore; it must be over- 
come the second time with my arrows. 

But when thou layest waste the land ^ remember 

* Remember to revere all sacred things.] This precept was 
broke by Neoptolemus, who slew Priamus when he fled for sanc- 
tuary to the altar of Jupiter Herkius ; as likewise by Ajax Oileus, 
impiously violating Cassandra, daughter of Priamus, at the altar 
of Pallas ; wherefore, in his return from Troy, his ship was split 
by a tempest, and himself, after he had swam to a rock, was 
struck dead with thunder. Horace says, that Pallas was so en- 
raged at the impiety of that act, that she turned all her anger, 
which she had before bore against Troy, against Ajax's ship. 

Cum Pallas usto vertit iram ah Ilio, 
In ipiam AJacis ratem. 



PRILOCTETES. 379 

to revere all sacred things. Jove esteems all things 
inferior to them, for the piety of men dies not with 
them, but whether they live or die, that is immor- 
tal. 

Phil. O charming voice, which now after long 
time appearing, thou hast sent me, I will not dis- 
obey thy counsels. 

Neop. And I will submit to thy opinion. 

Her. Delay not, therefore ; the proper season 
calls, and at the very ship's stern provokes your 
sailing. 

Phil. Go, therefore, salute this land. Farewell, 
O house, my constant keeper, the nymphs of the 
marshes, and the hideous noise of the rising seas, 
where oftentimes my head within my cave was wet 
with the battering wind-driven showers, and often- 
times the mount sacred to Mercury echoed back to 
me my reiterated mourning voice, when I was tem- 
pest-beaten. And now, O fountains and sweet wa- 
ters, I forsake you, which thing I never thought of. 
Farewell, O land of Lemnos, near the sea, dismiss 
me with a prosperous voyage, where resistless fate 
calls me, the will of my friends, and the invincible 
god which brought these things thus to pass. 

Cho. Now let us go all together, beseeching the 
nymphs of the sea safely to conduct us in our 
voyage. 



THE END. 



MARCH ANT, Printer, Ingram-Court, Fenchurch-Street. 



BOOKS LATEfeLY PUBLISHED 

BY 

T. & J. ALLMAN, 

PRINCES STREET, HANOVER ^SQUARE. 



CamfttiDge ig^ti^e Poems* 

CAMBRIDGE PRIZE POEMS r being a complete Collec^ 
tioii of the English Poems which have obtained the Chan- 
cellor's Gold Medal in the University of Cambridge. Price 
6s. boards. 



l^ume on !E)uman iQature* 

A TREATISE of HUMAN NATURE; being an Attempt to 
introduce the experimental Method of reasoning into Moral 
Subjects. By David Hume, Esq. A new Edition, hand- 
somely printed in 2 vols, 8vo. price ll. Is. boards. 

%* In this edition the three volumes are now comprised ia 
two, and printed uniformly with his History of England. 



antiquitates Cutiosae* 

ANTIQUITATES CURIOSiE ; or, the Etymology of many 
remarkable Old Sayings, Proverbs, and Singular Customs. 
Explained by Joseph Taylor. 1 vol. f.c. 8vo. price 5s. 
boards. 



Stratagems of Cfjess* 

STRATAGEMS of CHESS ; or, a Collection of critical and 
remarkable Situations, selected from the Works of eminent 
Masters, illustrated on Plates, describing the ingenious 
Moves by which the Game is either won, drawn, or stale- 
mate obtained. Taken from the celebrated French Work 
entitled " Stratag^mes des Echecs." Carefully revised and 
improved. To which is prefixed an Introduction to the 
Game of Chess. Handsomely printed in one volume fools- 
cap 8vo. price 7s. in boards ; the Fourth Edition. 

*** One hundred Copies are printed on large Paper, price 12s. 
as Companions to Philidor and Sarratt. 



Books published hij T. &f J. ALLMAN, 

C&ess (grammar. 

A Work on an entirely new principle, entitled PRACTICAL 
CHESS GRAMMAR; illustrated with nine Copper-plate 
Engravings, highly finished ; the whole designed to amuse 
and instruct the Learner, remove the difficulties of this 
elegant and scientific Game, and render it attainable by the 
lowest capacity. By W. S. Kenny. Fourth Edition. Hand- 
somely printed in 4to. price 7s. 

Texuntcjue fugas et pra:lia ludo. — Virg. ^n. 



CHESS EXEPvCISES; intended as a Companion and Sequel 
to the PRACTICAL CHESS GRAMMAR. By W. S. 

Kenny. Elegantly printed in foolscap 8vo. embellished 
with numerous Plates, price 7s. boards. 



(SreenlanD. 

A DESCRIPTION OF GREENLAND. By Hans Egede, 
who was, for twenty-five Years, a Missionary in that Country. 
A new Edition, with an Historical Introduction, handsomely 
printed in 8vo. illustrated with a Map and numerous Wood 
Engravings. Price 12s. 



jSortf) pole* 

The Possibility of APPROACHING THE NORTH POLE 
asserted. By the Hon. Daines Harrington. A new 
Edition : with an Appendix, containing Papers on the same 
Subject, and on a North West Passage. By Col. Beaufoy, 
F.R.S. Printed in 8vo. with a correct Map of the Pole. 
Price 9s. boards. 



Peter wxx^im. 

The LIFE and ADVENTURES of PETER WILKINS, a 
Cornish Man ; taken from his own Mouth in his Passage to 
England off Cape Horn, in America, in the Ship Hector. 
By R. S., a Passenger. A new Edition, handsomely printed 
in 2 vols, royal IBmo. (uniform with Mrs. Barbauld's British 
Novelists,) and embellished with Engravings. Price lOs. 6d. 
boards. 



^^a^S^i^r^-" 






I 





^ ,0' -6, 



.<-*^.^''f-i^ y 



-v c 



•^<=-^ 



^'>^ -^v-. 









^. .A^ 



^/r/ 



^'T^^^, 



,-0' 










^ ^ -^ \ ^ ^^^1)%'- '^z ^-^^ ^Mi/^ Neutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide V 

^ " ^'^^^B * '^ -^ (^B^ Treatment Date: July 2006 



^ 



Deacidified using the Bookkeeper process. 



^>^ 







^^^ PreservationTechnologies 

% n A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATION 

^ f^ 111 Thomson Park Drive 

Cranberry Township, PA 16066 
(724)779-2111 



\ 



'^A v^^ 



O. * , V - ^VJ> 



^ . V I « 



■V* .'- 



ur- 



oo^ 



• 

^ o 



^^ S'^ -^ "^ 



.">.. 









A-^ - 









%^. "^^ V^' 



.^ -n 






■^^ '■ 




^^'"^, 






.0^ 



-^^ 



^o^ 









v"^ . \ ' » 










. ^' ^'--^''/'S. / -*>^~- 






o % 



% .6 









,^^^, 



r . 



^ . 0-- 



1% 



c^'^ 



"f,- v^' 



- "o 0^ 



.^^ ■^'^^ 












V "^ 



r "% '^S 



>^~ : 



o 







^^/.^^ v^rrr.^%0 







? *. * D N ^ 



.^^ 



.^•^, 



'*^ >*' 






"^bo^ 



-^^ c^ 



